I am intrigued by entrepreneurship. Is it something we all innately possess – or can entrepreneurship be taught to anyone (myself included) for whom it doesn’t come naturally? Could we all – with enough time, training and support – become the next Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson or Martha Lane Fox?

In my professional life as an engineer in industry, we often talk about the importance of invention and innovation. Without them, products will become dated and firms will lose their competitive edge. However, inventions don’t necessarily sell themselves, which is where entrepreneurs have a key influence.

So what’s the difference between inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs? An inventor, to me, is someone who creates a new process, application or machine. An innovator is a person who introduces something new or does something for the first time. An entrepreneur, however, is someone who sets up a business or takes on a venture, embracing financial risks with the aim of profit.

Scientists and engineers are naturally good inventors and innovators. We like to solve problems, improve how we do things, and make the world more ordered and efficient. In fact, many of the greatest inventors and innovators of all time were scientists and engineers – think James Watt, George Stephenson and Frank Whittle.

But entrepreneurship requires different, additional qualities. Many entrepreneurs come from a variety of different backgrounds – not just science and engineering – and tend to have finance in their blood. They embrace risk and have unlimited amounts of courage and business acumen – skills I’d need to pick up if I wanted to be an entrepreneur myself.

Risk and reward

Engineers are encouraged to take risks, exploring new technologies and designs; in fact, it’s critical for companies seeking to stay competitive. But we take risks in a calculated and professional manner that prioritizes safety, quality, regulations and ethics, and project success. We balance risk taking with risk management, spotting and assessing potential risks – and mitigating or removing them if they’re big.

Courage is not something I’ve always had professionally. Over time, I have learned to speak up if I feel I have something to say that’s important to the situation or contributes to our overall understanding. Still, there’s always a fear of saying something silly in front of other people or being unable to articulate a view adequately. But entrepreneurs have courage in their DNA.

So can entrepreneurship be taught? Specifically, can it be taught to people like me with a technical background – and, if so, how? Some of the most famous innovators, like Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, James Dyson and Benjamin Franklin, had scientific or engineering backgrounds, so is there a formula for making more people like them?

Skill sets and gaps

Let’s start by listing the skills that most engineers have that could be beneficial for entrepreneurship. In no particular order, these include:

However, there are mindset differences between engineers and entrepreneurs that any training would need to overcome. These include:

Such skills may not always come naturally to engineers and scientists, but they can be incorporated into our teaching and learning. Some great examples of how to do this were covered in Physics World last year. In addition, there is a growing number of UK universities offering science and engineering degrees combined with entrepreneurship.

The message is that whilst some scientists and engineers become entrepreneurs, not all do. Simply having a science or engineering background is no guarantee of becoming an entrepreneur, nor is it a requirement. Nevertheless, the problem-solving and technical skills developed by scientists and engineers are powerful assets that, when combined with business acumen and entrepreneurial drive, can lead to business success.

Of course, entrepreneurship may not suit everybody – and that’s perfectly fine. No-one should be forced to become an entrepreneur if they don’t want to. We all need to play to our core strengths and interests and build well-rounded teams with complementary skillsets – something that every successful business needs. But surely there’s a way of teaching entrepreneurism too?

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