‘ Entrepreneurship – Experiences In Applying Design Thinking/Innovation Based Pedagogical Approaches ‘a research paper proposal by Prof. Pradeep Pendse is  selected for presentation under the category – ‘Innovative practices in Entrepreneurship development ‘  in the First International Conference on “Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation: International Models and Benchmarks’ organised by the  International Consortium for Entrepreneurship Research (ICER), a BRIC country initiative.

WeSchool under the leadership of Prof Dr Uday Salunkhe has been a pioneer in exploring the possibility of the power of design and design thinking in driving innovation and stimulating an entrepreneurial spirit.  Dr Pendse’s paper at a first level highlights the work of various researchers such as Dr Sten Ekman (Design Inspired Innovation, 2009), Roberto Verganti (Design Led Innovation, Harvard Press, 2009),  Besant and Tidd (Innovation and Entrepreneurship) and Dr Roger Martin (The Opposable Mind, Rotman School,  2009) who have already linked Design with innovation and Innovation with Entrepreneurship. Dr Pendse’s paper evaluates the impact of various Design/innovation based pedagogical approaches which many others as also the Design team at WeSchool have evolved over the past 5-6 years in developing an entrepreneurial mindset.

Prof.Pendse will be joined by Dr. Sunanda Easwaran and Dr.Madhavi Lokhande from WeSchool, Bangalore whose paper titled ‘Stages in Growth of Start-ups: An Indian Perspective’ is also accepted for presentation at the ICER conference. Their paper is based on the Start-up Genome project developed by Max Marmer of the ‘Black box’ and faculty members from UC Berkeley and Stanford. It aims at assessing whether (i) internet start-ups in India differ from Western Internet start-ups and (ii) Internet start-ups differ from start-ups in other industries in terms of stages of growth, personality types and managerial and operational learnings that influence their growth and profitability

.’Entrepreneurship And New Venture Creation’ is a first international conference organized by ICER, a cross-continental network of five leading academic institutions across Italy and BRIC countries that include Fondazione Cariplo and Milano Bicocca University of Italy, Instituto de Economia (UFRJ), Brazil, Fudan University, China, Moscow International Business School MIRBIS, Russia and is supported by Centre for Entrepreneurship Research (CER), Essex Business School, University of Essex, UK among others.  It is to be held from December 8-10, 2011, hosted by the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

The main theme of the conference is entrepreneurship and its facilitation by various environmental conditions, with special reference to the policies and practices in BRIC countries as well as other benchmark countries. It provides a platform for policy makers, entrepreneurs, industry bodies and researchers from different walks of life to share ideas and experiences on the best practices in entrepreneurship promotion. It is a matter of pride for WeSchool to have three of its eminent academicians at this august gathering of national and international personalities.

Another paper by Dr Sunanda Easwaran titled ‘what influences new brand adoption? An Indian perspective’, is also accepted for the Great Lakes -NASMEI International Conference in Chennai, scheduled at the end of December. It examines the  propositions that (a)ATP combined with age, innovativeness, novelty seeking, consumer creativity and role accumulation influence the adoption of new brands, (b) in choosing products that are part of or tend to define the individual’s personality, brand switching would not be very frequent, and therefore probability of new brand adoption would depend on purpose of use of the product, and (c)image of a brand, apart from consumer characteristics, will influence new brand adoption on the one hand and ‘brand surrender’ on the other hand.

All the best wishes to our faculty members in their respective endeavors!