Bizstartup.ie - NewsInnovation expert to talk about employees as entrepreneurs

It’s an interesting topic when you consider that a lot of start-up companies have formed as a result of employees within large corporate spotting an opportunity to create their own business.

Professor Russo is founder and director of the Strascheg Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the European Business School, Frankfurt, Germany. His research expertise includes innovation management, corporate entrepreneurship and growth management.  He has also held senior positions within the banking and the high-tech industry and has co-founded a number of start-up companies.

Intrapreneurs within companies themselves

He believes generating good ideas is generally not the bottleneck in the innovation process for companies – the real challenge for them is to successfully commercialise those ideas and this requires their employees to act as entrepreneurs.

“Companies are left with no choice but to innovate, otherwise they will disappear from the market.  Corporate entrepreneurship is a key way to make innovation happen inside established organisations.”

He added: “It is not just about generating ideas and building prototypes, but about commercialising them in the right way, and this critically important last step in a well-functioning innovation value-chain requires entrepreneurs,” he said.

The lecture, entitled Corporate Entrepreneurship - the Key to Making Innovation Happen is taking place on 25 March at 6pm in the William Jefferson Clinton Auditorium, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4.

Photo: Professor Peter Russo, founder, director and chairman of the Strascheg Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the European Business School, Frankfurt