Insights from Heidi Neck, one of the world’s leadings experts on entrepreneurship education
In an era where technology and innovation are paramount, DTU’s innovation ecosystem is a crucible for future change-makers.
As part of this ecosystem, DTU Entrepreneurship’s mission is to develop the entrepreneurial capabilities of students, civil society, executives, researchers, and policymakers to create positive social and economic change, the centre is dedicated to moulding the next generation of entrepreneurs who will lead the charge in creating a sustainable and technologically advanced future.
Jes Broeng, Professor, director of DTU Entrepreneurship reflects on the centre’s strategy, “We are committed to pushing the boundaries of technology entrepreneurship education”, and are inspired by Heidi Neck, one of the world’s leadings experts on entrepreneurship education, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Babson College and member of DTU Entrepreneurship’s advisory board. We have invited her to give her view on what DTU Entrepreneurship could learn from Babson College and apply in a Danish context.
The development in entrepreneurship education over the past 10 years
As part of her role at the advisory board of DTU Entrepreneurship, Heidi Neck visited DTU and shared her insights on the evolution of entrepreneurship education.
"And ... that is all I can say. Because we are depending on entrepreneurship for the future"
Heidi Neck, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Babson College and member of the advisory board of DTU Entrepreneurship
“The focus has shifted from 100% sole focus on founders starting new ventures to what are the skills and what is that mindset of that founder in that startup. And how can those skill sets, the mindset, as well as the tool set, how can that be used no matter what a student chooses to do after graduating from some type of programme that emphasises entrepreneurship”, says Heidi Neck.
Babson’s role in shaping entrepreneurship education
Babson College’s role in shaping the global entrepreneurship education landscape is significant. Heidi Neck states, “I think Babson College has been a wonderful contributor to the overall development of the entrepreneurship education ecosystem around the world. And it is not necessarily what we do and how we do it. I think we have been a convenor. A very small school right outside of Boston, Massachusetts in the United States has really created a very large global footprint where we want to share what we're doing.”
The future of entrepreneurship education
Looking to the future, Heidi Neck envisions entrepreneurship education as an omnipresent force across all disciplines. “Entrepreneurship is about imagining the possibilities of changing the world. It’s going to permeate everything we do because we cannot change the world without creating new opportunities and acting on them”.
Video interview
For a deeper dive into Heidi Neck’s perspective, watch the full video interview below.
DTU has one of the most well-developed ecosystems for innovation and entrepreneurship among technical universities in Europe.
This ecosystems helps bringing new ideas and inventions from the classrooms and research laboratories at DTU into the real world, where they can create new jobs and help solve tasks and challenges in society.
More about DTU's innovation ecosystem
Watch video interview with Heidi Neck