Kenneth Morse: Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Saudi Arabia
With its pioneering spirit and mission of innovation, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) attracts faculty, staff, and students who are themselves pioneers. Serial entrepreneur Kenneth P. Morse emphasized this unique trait that encompasses all members of the University's community during his seminar, "Leadership and Building Successful Teams" on May 25, 2011.
True to this characterization, students, faculty, and staff flocked to Morse's talk, eager to develop their leadership and entrepreneurial skills. Every seat in the auditorium was occupied, and many people lined the walls, standing captivated by the two-hour seminar. Morse's talk was part of a seminar series organized by the University's New Ventures group to help enable successful entrepreneurship, leadership, and innovation.
The mother of success
Morse is a visiting professor at ESADE Business School; the Chair in Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Competitiveness at Delft University of Technology; and the Founding Managing Director of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center. He has cofounded five successful high-tech start-ups – as well as one that he describes as a "disaster."
"If you have a lot of start-ups, you're going to have a lot of failures. Failure is part of the process, just like in the lab," Morse said about his entrepreneurial experiences. However, "failure is the mother of success," he added, and taking risks by challenging conventional wisdom in one's field is the source of innovation.
The pace of innovation is faster today than it ever has been, but selling a novel idea can be challenging. "Inventors and entrepreneurs have to interact to help move technology from the cool comfort of the laboratory to the cruel crucible of the marketplace. They have to work together," Morse said. "And the way that happens is through leadership."
The lab-to-market challenge
To better guide the efforts of University researchers to innovate and succeed in bringing their innovations to market, Morse spoke about the importance of leadership and key elements to entrepreneurial success.
KAUST was built around many of the traits that Morse outlined as essential in moving inventions from the lab to market – interdisciplinary research, the ability to attract and provide for teams with world-class talent, the drive to solve problems, and the support to innovate by challenging the current state of science.
"The Kingdom is looking to KAUST to help catalyze the creation of good jobs within the innovation economy, through research, education, innovation, and commercialization," says Oleg Kaganovich, the Director of New Ventures who arranged Morse's talk and is organizing a speaker series, seminars, mentorship programs, and a venture fund to support bringing innovations from the University's labs to the market.
Kaganovich added, "While no university can singlehandedly change an economy, we have the opportunity to lead by example, to demonstrate both potential and success, thereby paving a path for others to follow."