Framing policies for startup development in universities in vietnam

Although the role of the university in the startup ecosystem has been confirmed to be very important and necessary, there has not been any study of policies for developing startups in un

VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY -

NGUYEN PHUONG ANH

FRAMING POLICIES FOR STARTUP DEVELOPMENT

IN UNIVERSITIES IN VIETNAM

MASTER'S THESIS

Hanoi, 2018

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY -

NGUYEN PHUONG ANH

FRAMING POLICIES FOR STARTUP DEVELOPMENT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

As time goes by, 2 years studying at Vietnam Japan University is a very memorable time in my life Here I was studied in a modern international and professional environment, with professors, lecturers who are extremely enthusiastic and dedicated to work Especially, 3 month internship time in Japan brought to me much useful knowledge in public policy major and wonderful experiences about the life and culture of Japan that I still wished to have before Although the learning process faced many difficulties in balancing and arranging time between work and study, however, it can be said that the results received are worth with the effort made

First and foremost, I would like to send my thanks to JICA, VJU and University of Tsukuba for giving me this amazing opportunity

I would like to express my endless thanks and gratefulness to my supervisors, Professors Hiroichi Kawashima, Professor Tomokazu Arita, Associate Prof Dr Dao Thanh Truong, who always support my master study and research, for their patience, motivation, enthusiasm, and immense knowledge during my research process

I would like to send my sincere thanks to the lecturers and staff members in the Master of Public Policy program for the kindly support and dedication in creating the best studying environment for students during last 2 years

I also acknowledge my thankfulness to universities, experts, and startups for spending their valuable time, kind assistance and support in participating in the interviews of my research

Last but not least, my special thanks approve to my family and my office who always encouraged, supported and created the best conditions for me to study

and complete this course

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i

LIST OF TABLES v

LIST OF FIGURES vi

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1.Research background 1

1.2.Research purpose 4

1.3.Research question 4

1.4 Research scope 4

1.5.Research limitations 4

1.6 Structure and overview of the thesis 5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 6

2.1 Startup 6

2.2 Startup ecosystem 7

2.3 Role of startup 9

2.3.1 Role of startup in general 9

2.3.2 Role of startup in university 12

2.4 Role of University in Startup ecosystem 13

2.5 Startups in universities 16

2.6 Some views on promoting startups for development in universities 19

2.7.Experiences from foreign countries in promoting startups in universities 23

2.8 Experiences from universities in the world 26

CHAPTER 3: STARTUP SITUATION IN VIETNAM 33

3.1 Policies for startup promoting from Government 33

3.2 Policies to promote university startups 37

3.2.1 Policy to promote student-driven startups 37

3.2.2 Policy to promote faculty-driven startups 38

3.3 Startup ecosystem situation in Vietnam 39

CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 45

4.1 Research methodology 45

4.2 Research process 46

4.3 In-depth interviews plan 47

CHAPTER 5: FINDINGS 50

5.1 Startup situation in universities 50

5.2 Difficulties startups often encountered 54

5.2.1 Comparison between startups in university and startups outside university 54

5.2.3 Difficulties that startups in universities usually meet 55

5.3 Startup support programs of universities 59

5.3.1 Departments in charge of startup support and promotion in universities 59

5.3.2 Activities to support and promote startup at universities 62

CHAPTER 6: RECOMMENDATIONS 76

6.1 Recommendations for National policy 76

6.1.1 Building effective policy system support for startups 76

6.1.2 Identify startup development as a national strategy 76

6.2 Recommendations for Universities 77

6.2.1 Promoting startup as an important part of general strategy 77

6.2.2 Building startup support model and entrepreneurship education model 77

6.2.3 Policy facilitates the formation and development of spinoffs 78

6.2.4 Promoting university-industry collaboration 78

CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION 79

REFERENCES 81

ANNEXES 86

LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 2.1 Programs enhancing entrepreneurial efforts for commercializing

technologies in university 19

Table 2.2 Characteristics of experiential programs of universities that have a high-impact entrepreneurial culture 21

Table 3.1 Startup policy development objectives integrated from Project 844 35

Table 3.2 Startup ecosystem of Vietnam 2017 41

Table 4.1 Interview plan 47

Table 5.1 Enterprises formed from universities 52

Table 5.2 Department in charge of startup support and promotion in universities 59

Table 5.3 Startup support programs from universities 63

Table 5.4 Comparison between the universities with good practice entrepreneurship education with the universities interviewed 75

LIST OF FIGURES

Page

Figure 2.1 U.S Job growth at startups vs existing firms, 1977-2005 10

Figure 2.2 Ideal university ecosystem and resulting synergies 15

Figure 2.3 The university ecosystem turns into the ideal startup launch pad 16

Figure 2.4 Business model generation canvas in the lean launchpad courses 23

Figure 2.5 The University of Cambridge entrepreneurship journey map 28

Figure 3.1 A number of awareness raising and startup promoting activities in Vietnam 43

Figure 3.2 Number of startup deals & deal value 44

Figure 3.3 Startup deal volume in 2017 44

Figure 4.1 Research flow 46

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1.Research background

The world economy is experiencing a slow growth pace International Labor Organization ILO has indicated that the unemployment rate will increase in the coming years due to the slow growth of the world economy It is worth worrying that the unemployment rate of young people aged 15-24 will increase to even over 13% of 2014 (ILO, 2015)

In this context, startup which is defined as companies applying “innovative technology and/or business models and having significant growth potential” (Monitor European Startup, 2017) as the key to solve the problem Many studies have shown that startups promotion is focused in many countries and is seen as a way to promote economic growth and job creation (Sobela, R S & King, K A, 2008) (Lee, S.M., Lim, S., Pathak, R.D et al., 2006)

Many countries around the world have developed policies to promote the startup

of young people, especially startups in universities (Spike Innovation, 2015) (Lee,

S J & Lee, Y M, 2015)

Startups have appeared in Vietnam since the last decade, but have really bloomed and received the attention of policymakers and universities just a few years ago The wave of startup has grown rapidly, covering all the fields and spreading across the country 2016 was selected as the year of startup in Vietnam Vietnam has developed a number of policies to facilitate the development of startups Typical policies mentioned are Decision No.844/QD-TTg dated 18 May 2016 by the Prime Minister approving the project “Supporting the National Startup ecosystem up to 2025”, Decision No.1665/QĐ-TTg dated 30/10/2017 of the Prime Minister approving the Scheme on

“Supporting pupils and students to start their business up to 2025” The Small and Medium Enterprise Support Law passed in 2017 together with the accompanying circulars are forming the legal corridor for startups

Although the role of the university in the startup ecosystem has been confirmed

to be very important and necessary, there has not been any study of policies for developing startups in universities in Vietnam The situation of the startups as well

as the number of startups in universities, is not included in any the materials This research aims to understand the startup situation as well as startup support activities

at a number of universities in Vietnam, thereby developing policy recommendations for startup promotion in the university in Vietnam

Studies on startups in universities

There have many researches on startup in universities of authors from many different countries:

Research “What policy approaches are needed to improve startup education

in university” of authors Sin-Jeong Lee and Young-Min Lee confirms the important role of startup education as the plan to activate a foundation for the young Therefore, the research gives some direction of startup education programs in Korean universities (Lee, S J & Lee, Y M, 2015)

Universities must focus more on the startup education program, focusing on the student business, connecting with the society, giving students more startup opportunities and pay attention to the opportunity to practice of the student This view is summarized by Hong and his colleagues in the article “Entrepreneurship Quality of College Students Related to Entrepreneurial Education” Accordingly, he affirms the quality of the student's startup in relation to the startup education program, as it enriches entrepreneurial knowledge and develops entrepreneurial skills for students (Hong, Z., Hong, T., Cui, Z., & Luzhuang, W., 2012)

Rae and Ruth Woodier-Harris (2013) in “How Does Enterprise and Entrepreneurship education influence postgraduate students’ career intentions in the New Era economy?” also state that it is important to develop a comprehensive startup program for students to promote the entrepreneurial spirit, to provide the knowledge and skills and create a startup environment to support students to realize

the idea of their own startup (Rae, D & Ruth Woodier-Harris, N., 2013)

Hasegawa and Sugawara (2017) with research: “Characteristics of University Startups in Japan” analyzed the characteristics and economic impact of startup companies at the University of Tokyo (Hasegawa, K & Sugawara, T., 2017)

In Vietnam, there are also some authors chose the topic of startups in universities to study Some researches are listed below:

Theoretical Overview of Student Entrepreneurship Intention by Ngo and Cao (2016) deals with the factors that influence the startup, proposing a theoretical frame of Entrepreneurship intention of Vietnamese students (Ngo, T T T & Cao,

Q V, 2016)

Authors Phan and Giang (2015) studied the factors that influence the intention to start a business for students in economics and business administration at Can Tho University (Phan, A T & Giang, T C T., 2015)

The article University - Center for startup and creative innovating, Nguyen (2017) in Tia Sang magazine, has also positioned the important role of university in startup ecosystem In addition, the article also points out the factors that motivate the creativity of the universities in order to promote their strengths and fulfill their mission effectively Universities must focus more on the startup education program, focusing on the student business, connecting with the society, giving students more startup opportunities and pay attention to the opportunity to practice of the student (Nguyen, 2017)

It can be said that, startups in university is the topic that is studied by many authors

in the world Startup is a new phenomenon in Vietnam, and the number of researches

on startup in universities is still limited Researches usually only point out the factors that affect the student’s startup intention, the importance of the university in stimulating and motivating students to start a business, research on startup situation, startup ecosystem in general The study of policies promoting startup in universities, especially

in Vietnam has not been clarified and mentioned in detail

1.2.Research purpose

The overall objective of this study is to frame suitable policies for startups development in universities in Vietnam To do that, the study clarifies some of the basic theories in promoting startups policies in universities and focuses on analyzing and evaluating the current situation of startup development policies in universities as well as the situation of startups in universities From there, policy implications can be derived to facilitate the startups development in universities in Vietnam

1.3.Research question

Main research question:

What are the suitable policy solutions for startups development in universities in Vietnam?

Sub research question:

- How is the current situation of policies for startups development in

universities in Vietnam?

- How do universities support startup development?

- What difficulties have startups in universities met in startup process?

- How should policies be built to develop startups in universities in Vietnam?

1.4 Research scope

This study focuses on startups in universities Therefore, the policies mentioned

in this study are policies for startups development in universities, including national policies and policies of universities

1.5.Research limitations

Findings of this research provides an overview of the development of startups in universities in Vietnam, which is less studied in previous researches The lack of statistics, information about startups in universities is the biggest limitation of research that needs to be investigated and further elaborated

1.6 Structure and overview of the thesis

This study consists of the following seven chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction - explains the research background and the

analytical framework of the research

Chapter 2: Literature review and conceptual framework - provides the

introduction and theoretical framework for startups development in universities

This chapter shows experiences of some countries and universities in the world

which have policies to promote successfully startups development in universities

Chapter 3: Startup situation in Vietnam - presents policies for startups

promoting as well as the startup ecosystem situation in Vietnam

Chapter 4: Research methodology - introduces the general methodology

employed by the study Then, research designs and procedures are presented

Chapter 5: Findings - presents results and discusses the research findings of

the study on how do the universities in Vietnam support startups development The

limitations of support programs as well as the difficulties of startups are also

discussed and analyzed

Chapter 6: Recommendations - proposes policy implications to facilitate

startups development in universities in Vietnam, including national policies and

policies of universities

Chapter 7: Conclusion - presents the conclusion of the study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL

FRAMEWORK

2.1 Startup

There are many ways to define startup in the world:

“A startup company (startup or start-up) is an entrepreneurial venture which is typically a newly emerged, fast-growing business that aims to meet a marketplace need

by developing a viable business model around an innovative product, service, process or a platform A startup is usually a company designed to effectively develop and validate a scalable business model” (What is a startup, 2013)

Neil Blumenthal, co-founder and co-CEO of Warby Parker (a transformative lifestyle brand that offers designer eyewear at a revolutionary price, while leading the way for socially-conscious businesses) defined startup as “a company working to solve

a problem where the solution is not obvious and success is not guaranteed”

“Startup is a state of mind” said Adora Cheung, co-founder and CEO of Homejoy (one of the Hottest U.S Startups of 2013) “It is when people join your company and are still making the explicit decision to forgo stability in exchange for the promise of tremendous growth and the excitement of making immediate impact”

According to Steve Blank, one of the most famous entrepreneurial educators in Silicon Valley, a startup is a “temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model”, while the small business runs according to the fixed business model

Startup is also known as a recently formed company that has the potential for high growth and is using either new technology or business model innovation coupled with existing technology (eg the internet) as an enabler of growth (Spike Innovation, 2015)

The Crossroads report was initiated by StartupAUS (Australia’s peak body for startups) mentioned startup as “an emerging high-growth company that is using

technology and innovation to tackle a large and most often global market” This report also noted 2 important characteristics of startup: the potential for high growth and the disruptive innovation (StartupAUS, 2017)

Startups have been appeared in Vietnam since the last decade, but there is no official definition of start up until June 2017 when the Small and Medium Enterprise Support Law was passed Clause 2, Article 3 of this Law stipulates that

“Startups are small and medium enterprises which are established to implement ideas on the basis of exploiting intellectual property, new technology and new business models and have the ability to grow fast” Basically, this definition is quite consistent with the common definitions of startup in many countries around the world, especially in terms of creative activity and development prospects

The above definitions show that the two main characteristics of the startup are high growth potential and application of innovation technology which distinguish startups to normal small businesses A small business is often considered to be a business providing less distinct products or services, often trading in a limited geographic area Even if a small business grows, it will still be a small business for

a long time Startups, on the other hand, start small but have the ability to experience large and sustainable growth, often allowing them to become important players in global industries within a few years Small businesses although play an important role for any economy due to large number and providing income for a large proportion of the workforce, however, small businesses are not a significant source of economic growth in the same way that startups are From the point of view of economic policy, it is important to distinguish between startups and small businesses because they have very different needs

2.2 Startup ecosystem

To understand about startup ecosystem, firstly see the definition of ecosystem: “all the living things in an area and the way they affect each other and the environment” (Cambridge dictionary) The term “ecosystem” is becoming more

and more popular, conceptualizing the business network as compared to the original concept of biological ecosystems (Iansiti, M., & Levien, R., 2004)

However, it is difficult to see the official definition of a startup ecosystem in researches and reports Mekong Business Initiative also affirmed that there is no official definition of a startup ecosystem and the term is used in a variety of ways (Mekong Business Initiative, 2017) Recently, many authors have emphasized the importance of entrepreneurship in the ecosystem and introduced the concept of enterprise ecosystems as alternatives to, or in parallel with, the startup ecosystem (Autio, 2015) Mason and Brown define entrepreneurial ecosystem as: “a set of interconnected entrepreneurial actors (both potential and existing), entrepreneurial organisations (e.g firms, venture capitalists, business angels, banks), institutions (universities, public sector agencies, financial bodies) and entrepreneurial processes (e.g the business birth rate, numbers of high growth firms, levels of “blockbuster entrepreneurship”, number of serial entrepreneurs, degree of sell-out mentality within firms and levels of entrepreneurial ambition) which formally and informally coalesce to connect, mediate and govern the performance within the local entrepreneurial environment” (Mason, C., & Brown, R., 2014)

The entrepreneurial ecosystem consists of many factors and is not the same in each locality, depending on economic, social, political, educational and population conditions It can include: Accessible Markets, Human Capital Workforce, Funding and Finance, Mentors Advisors Support Systems, Regulatory Framework and Infrastructure, Education and Training, Major Universities as Catalysts, Cultural Support (World Economic Forum, 2013)

Spigel gave the definition of Entrepreneurial ecosystems: “Entrepreneurial ecosystems are combinations of social, political, economic, and cultural elements within a region that support the development and growth of innovative startups and encourage nascent entrepreneurs and other actors to take the risks of starting, funding, and otherwise assisting high-risk ventures” (Spigel, 2015)

In 2017, a definition of startup ecosystem was given by StartupAUS: A startup ecosystem is a complex set of forces that determines the economic environment in which the startup parts are generated and have significant influences on their ability

to succeed Those involved in any startup ecosystem and the forces they exert, including: Startups, Incubators and Accelerators, Investors, Customers, Government, Universities, Advisors and service providers (StartupAUS, 2017) Startup ecosystems can be understood as referring to a complementary community, creating a favorable environment for promoting the establishment of entrepreneurial startups and sustainable development

A startup ecosystem is considered to be the way a nation or region created to promote startups in that nation or region More specifically, it is the sum up of the relationships between many factors such as startups, agencies and organizations involved in startups and startup process

Entrepreneurial ecosystems are combinations of social, political, economic, and cul- tural elements within a region that support the development and growth of innovative startups and encourage nascent entrepreneurs and other actors to take the risks of starting, funding, and otherwise assissting high-risk ventures

2.3 Role of startup

2.3.1 Role of startup in general

In many studies, startups are referred as an important component of the economy which is the job creation and economic growth factor

In a research of Kauffman Foundation on Firm Formation and Economic Growth in 2010, Kane mentioned the importance of startups in job creation in US in the period from 1977 to 2005 (3 million new jobs created annually) while companies in their first full years of existence up to firms established two centuries ago, are net job destroyers, losing 1 million jobs net combined per year The implication of this research is: It should be appreciate the amazing effect of creating

job in the first year of a company’s life In other words, it points out that effective policies to promote job growth must include a central consideration for startups (Kane, 2010)

Figure 2.1 U.S Job growth at startups vs existing firms, 1977-2005

Source: (Kane, 2010)

Startup appears as an innovation engine of the whole society Companies are forced to research and apply innovative technology to survive Disruptive innovation is both an opportunity and a threat Existing companies have everything

to lose if their market share is rapidly eroded by a more innovative and agile new competitor Startups, on the other hand, have everything to gain by being the

disruptors and rapidly acquiring market share from older, slower and less innovative firms (Spike Innovation, 2015)

Technology is changing drastically many industries, resulting in great opportunities for new companies to dominate future industries, as well as significant threats to companies that do not embrace technology Startup companies that grow

to be globally meaningful businesses can generate large numbers of high-value, knowledge-intensive work with high productivity

One of the clearest outputs of the startup boom has been rapid job creation in areas where tech firms have clustered Technology-based jobs have a larger multiplier effect than jobs in any other sector Each new technology-based job, five additional jobs are created in other sectors (Moretti, 2013) Moretti notes that this multiplier effect is three times larger in the technology sector than in extractive industries (such as mining) or traditional manufacturing This multiplier is one of the reasons that employment in the US technology sector has grown at 25 times that

of other parts of the economy Moretti highlights a snowball effect whereby regions that spawn a number of large technology companies generate their own attractive pull, making that region more conducive to attracting further knowledge intensive companies and workers

By way of example, in 2012 Facebook employed only a few thousand people

in its Menlo Park headquarters, but in doing so had indirectly created an estimated 53,000 jobs for Facebook app creators and 130,000 jobs in related business services

In 2015, Deloitte estimated that Facebook was already responsible for the creation

of as many as 4.5 million jobs around the globe (Deloitte, 2015) Similarly, Apple estimates its 80,000 direct employees in the US make up just 4% of the total number of US-based jobs the firm has created, with 450,000 jobs having been generated with US-based suppliers and more than 1.5 million jobs attributable to the app store ecosystem (www.apple.com)

In reality, successful companies like Microsoft have played an important role

in producing hundreds of new entrepreneurs in locations such as Seattle As noted

by Paul Graham, founder of Silicon Valley’s most successful startup accelerator, Y Combinator, “Startups beget startups” (Graham, 2006) Startup hubs grow when founders and employees of successful startups leave to create new startups and invest in others Experienced serial entrepreneurs also play an important role as mentors to less experienced founders This virtuous cycle, coupled with a strong proentrepreneurship culture and supportive economic environment, has been instrumental in the continued growth of the startup hotspots such as Silicon Valley, New York and Tel Aviv

In UK, Startups are mentioned as High Growth Small Businesses (HGSBs) which make up only 1% of UK businesses, yet account for 3% of UK total jobs in

2016 (22,074 out of 5.6 million companies) HGSBs created an average of just over 3,030 new jobs every week - this represents about 20% of all jobs created While making up only 3.6% of the UK’s Gross Value Added (GVA), HGSBs have made a significant contribution to economic growth Between 2015 and 2016, the UK’s GVA grew by over £41 billion - 22% of this growth is estimated to have come from HGSBs (Octopus, 2018)

2.3.2 Role of startup in university

Promoting startups in universities will bring many great benefits to universities: (Arrowhead center, 2016)

- Working with startups raises energy, enthusiasm and incentive to faculty members and students to continue promote applied research It comes from seeing real products from research projects which could be taken to local and global markets

- In addition, the student learning process provides feasible solutions in a realistic environment that narrows the gap between theoretical and applied knowledge Applying research in real projects also helps universities review the courses they provide and adjust them more effective, appropriate to reality

- Success startups in universities become potential mentors, investors and provide students internship courses, jobs in their own companies

- Universities get more successes in transferring technology from a laboratory to a product, the higher the return on investment they receive The results

of the technology transfer may become available to fund other projects, expand the number of research projects, and ideally create a series of programs that further encourage the technology transfer process

Talking about the importance of startups in universities, a similar view is given: Startups in universities are established to support students and researchers to develop entrepreneurial skills and nurturing businesses and ideas Moreover, creating job opportunities, promoting the cooperation between universities and industry, generating revenue for the university owned businesses In addition, startup activities involving the commercialization of research results could convey the impact of academic that will improve the public's daily lives and promote economic progress (UMCIC, 2018)

2.4 Role of University in Startup ecosystem

According to Startup Commons, with the community interests combine with their goals, university should play 3 roles in startup ecosystem: suppliers, connectors and accelerators (startupcommons.org, 2017)

- Suppliers: Startup ecosystem needs talent founders, employees and service providers The simplest way for universities to cultivate these resources is by offering entrepreneurship curriculums which shape students into key contributors of startup ecosystem with knowledge, skills, practiced experiences from research, prototyping and testing In additions, startup student clubs and organizations is also good way to to stimulate entrepreneurship in universities

- Connectors: Universities can be bridge between factors in startup ecosystem: local entrepreneurs, students, professors in university, startup business, alumni via experience sharing events, free courses, job fairs, startup contests, When universities act as connectors within startup ecosystems, win-win situations result for everyone involved

- Accelerator: Accelerator programs are considered by ambitious universities These programs always provide education, along with mentorship, and they often make seed-stage investments in exchange for equity stakes in cohort companies

Study on startups and spinoffs in universities, Stagars (2015) gave his own view on the role of universities as below: Universities occupy an important space at the intersection between science, business and public policy They connect multiple stakeholders from different areas in their daily activities If universities transfer this energy, they could help create a robust ecosystem for startups, to take advantage of students and entrepreneurs interested in entrepreneurship This also motivates staff and professors to explore deeper meaning in their work (Stagars, 2015)

Stagars also modeled an ideal entrepreneurial ecosystem in the university in which the university was a platform Other subjects exchange ideas and energy with the university daily, creating great potentially resources As universities focus and drive this energy into startups, synergies will emerge Dynamic knowledge exchange, cooperation, continuous feedback and discussions create “a ring of network effects around the university” (See Figure 2.2)

Source: (Stagars, 2015)

With energy appearing on this platform, startups gain energy and even take off as helicopters A university with entrepreneurial ecosystems is the launch pad for startups established by students and researchers in the university Most universities have all the components to build this ecosystem As soon as their energy is navigated to the common goal, startups in this environment will rely on more powerful resources than each one can provide individually (See Figure 2.3)

Figure 2.2Ideal university ecosystem and resulting synergies

Figure2.3The university ecosystem turns into the ideal startup launch pad

The results show that intellectual eminence, and the policies of making equity investments in TLO start-ups and maintaining a low inventor’s share of royalties increase new firm formation (Di Gregorio, D., & Shane, S., 2003)

While there are many studies on entrepreneurship, there is little research on student startups, although this type appears much more than the startups from lecturer and also produces considerable economic impact (Åstebro, T., Bazzazian, N., & Braguinsky, S., 2014) Sucessful startups like Facebook and Google, founded

by students, provide further evidence of the importance of this type of startups However, we only know very little about when and where students will take action

to start a new business

The report of Åstebro et al (2014) mentioned two groups of startups in the university which are spin-offs by faculty and staff; startups by recently graduated students (entrepreneurial firms started by undergraduate students in the three years immediately after graduation or while they were students) Startups by recent graduates are people with undergraduate degree in science or engineering relative The authors compared the gross magnitude of these two groups of startups from a representative sample of U.S universities and colleges The results indicate that the number of startups established by graduates is much larger than that generated by the faculty (but it is not just a volume effect driven by the larger number of students graduated) At the same time, outcomes are not of lower quality than what would have been expected if recent graduates instead took employment In addition, entrepreneurship among graduating students is a widespread phenomenon, not limited to a particular category of universities

In another research, Hasegawa and Sugawara (2017) analyzed the characteristics and economic impact of companies starting at the University of Tokyo University-related startups in this study were divided into two main categories: student-driven startups and faculty-driven startups Businesses that meet one of the following six conditions are startups in university (These conditions basically coincide with the definitions of startups in Japanese government universities.)

(1) Established based on patents and/or software copyrights legally transferred from the university

(2) Established based on technology transferred from the university in the form

of knowhow and/or trade secrets

(3) Established with the close involvement of the faculty member of the university, sometimes in the form of a member of the board of directors of the company, but in most cases a scientific advisor

(4) Founded by the students of the university while still under study

(5) Founded by alumni or researchers who participate in training programs officially and administered by universities

(6) The company uses the facilities of the incubators managed by the university The results of the study indicate that at the University of Tokyo, the economic values produced by these two groups are similar To achieve economic development, it is important to promote both types of startups (Hasegawa, K & Sugawara, T., 2017)

Through some of the above studies, it can be seen that, although there may be differences in the way we call, the definition, but generally, in the university exist startups established by the research of the university and by the students The startups were founded on the research of the university (spinoffs) mentioned and subjected to many research papers, while the startups from students are the opposite However, both groups have made significant contributions to the development of the economy and the universities Governments, universities, and researchers should not focus only on spinoffs, but should pay more attention to the rest group of the startups in the university

Within the scope of this paper, the author uses the classification of startups from Hasegawa and Sugawara to analyze the status of startups at Vietnamese universities The reason is the separation in this study is quite clear and detailed

2.6 Some views on promoting startups for development in universities

In many countries, entrepreneurship education and startup support are closely integrated This is also confirmed in an OECD brochure on entrepreneurship support in universities (OECD, 2009)

In a research of Boh and colleagues (2015), universities often act as business incubators, allowing students and faculty members to meet, group and test the idea

of bringing technology from research laboratories to market Universities effectively provide spinoffs for a period of incubation, in which students and faculty have the freedom to develop technology and form their strategic plans, step by step reducing the venture’s market and technological risk (Boh, W.F., De-Haan, U & Strom, R , 2015)

The following university programs and practices that enhance entrepreneurial efforts for commercializing university technologies: (see Table 2.1)

Table 2.1 Programs enhancing entrepreneurial efforts for commercializing

Mentoring programs Offer guidances and advices to new entrepreneurs,

referral to lawyers, industry experts, potential customers, licensees, and investors who help founding teams build their networks

Accelerator/incubator

programs

Help startups intensively over a period of time:

providing mentoring, funding, office space, enhanced credibility, in some cases, oversight and management

Business plan

competitions

Provide not only a platform for team formation, but also potential the opportunity to develop a business plan and strategic roadmap for the technology Contests also bring credibility and publicity to the winning teams Entrepreneurship

education for students

- Inspire students to pursue entrepreneurship

- Providing knowledge to facilitate successful spinoff development

Entrepreneurship

education for faculty

Universities have educational programs and resources available for faculty to access when they choose

Source: (Boh, W.F., De-Haan, U & Strom, R , 2015)

In a report on Boosting High-Impact Entrepreneurship in Australia, core business education is not about traditional classroom-based education but should focus on creating opportunities for students to experience entrepreneurship for themselves Experimental programs have been found to have a positive effect on both entrepreneurial attitudes and actions, leading students to take concrete steps to start their own ventures Therefore, if the goal of a university involves creating more entrepreneurs, the experience program is very important Some major programming experiences and their characteristics are shown in the table below (Spike Innovation, 2015)

Table 2.2 Characteristics of experiential programs of universities that have a

high-impact entrepreneurial culture

Source: (Spike Innovation, 2015)

Lean Startup approach

Also in the report on Boosting High-Impact Entrepreneurship in Australia mentioned above, Lean startup is referred as the gold standard for entrepreneur education

The Lean Startup approach which is based on the concept of evidence-based entrepreneurship sets out to quickly test and validate the assumptions behind the startup idea based on customer interaction, rather than taking students through the business plan writing process based on the assumption that they can take a valid business model first

Lean LaunchPad Course which is based on the Lean Startup Principle, is developed by Steve Blank and Jerome Engel in 2010 This is a highly-committed

program (during 10-12 weeks) that takes students to any discipline through the whole process of developing, validating and implementing ideas for technology-based startups

Students work in groups to fine-tune and test their business model hypotheses in the course by interacting with prospects, along with guidance through

a structured format to show them the basic concepts of developing a business model for a high growth company

Groups regularly modify their business model many times throughout the course when they improve their understanding of customer needs and market dynamics, then they can decide whether they have arrived at a viable and scalable business model warrants launching a company This approach helps teams to identify early on if their opportunity is not commercially viable and allows for fast failure Only once a viable business model is developed are the teams encouraged to start working on operational plans, financial models etc

The Lean LaunchPad culminates in a “Demo Day” in which teams present their business models and summarise their learnings to an audience of investors and successful entrepreneurs, many of whom will be able to help the companies to develop further Even teams that fail to discover a viable business model are invited

to present their learnings for the benefit of other participants

Over the last five years the Lean LaunchPad has been delivered at almost every major university in the United States, and is being adopted by universities and research institutes around the world due to its combination of quality content and highly experiential nature

In conclusion, views and models for startups support in universities mentioned above target to experience entrepreneurship programs and build an entrepreneurship environment that students have opportunities to practice as much

as possible through specific programs such as: student clubs, business incubation/accelerator, competition, mentoring programs, entrepreneurship

education,… The Lean LaunchPad is a program based on the Lean Startup theory, which can be said to be a truly effective and proven business course that is widely used in most US universities and many universities over the world “Lean LaunchPad has changed the vocabulary and practice of innovation across the USA and increasingly across the world” (Spike Innovation, 2015)

Figure 2.4Business Model Generation Canvas in the Lean Launchpad courses Source: (Blank, 2010)

2.7.Experiences from foreign countries in promoting startups in universities

Recognizing the importance of startups for the development of the economy, many countries around the world have developed policies that promote the development

of this economic component, and these policies pay special attention to promotion

startups in universities Some countries have successfully implemented startup support policies such as United State, United Kingdom, Israel, Singapore, and South Korea Some of the specific measures these countries have taken as following:

United States

US is famous with entrepreneurship education in universities since the 1980s Entrepreneurship courses attract 400,000 students each year These courses are offered by 1500 institutions, distributed by 9000 teaching staff Of the 1200 incubators for startups in US, up to one third are in universities (Torrance, 2013)

United Kingdom

Higher Education Grant (HEIF) which is a program of the United Kingdom Government, provides funding for supporting and developing a wide range of university-industry interactions with the purpose of achieving economic and social benefits for United Kingdom A part of this funding is spent for supporting entrepreneurship education at universities, such as hiring entrepreneurs, implementing experiential education programs, business idea contests, working spaces and startup incubators There have been 8244 graduate startups in the UK since 2001, up 42% over pre-HEIF funding levels (PACEC, 2012)

Many support programs were enacted by the UK government that focus on high-growth and global enterprises, including tax incentives and early-stage matching funds to promote angel investment; a funding and mentoring program for early stage entrepreneurs; funding to support the formation of venture capital funds and funding for startup support activities in schools and universities Innovate UK, the UK's innovation agency, is responsible for a wide range of innovative programs

as well as providing inputs to the government’s policies on innovation and economic development

Israel

Since the 1990s, Israel has begun to shift to an economy focused on technology Yozma - the program of Government is an appropriate tax and

sponsorship program initiated in 1993 to promote the venture capital industry as well as the growth of high-tech enterprises in Israel The establishment of 22 technology-centralized incubators is supported about 180 companies 85 percent of the operating budget for incubations annually came from government Due to dedicated funding and incubators, the government has supported more 1,700 companies, and 60% of them have attracted successfully private investment Consequently, supporting high-impact entrepreneurship, a range of education and support programs for students were offered in Israeli universities

Singapore (National Research Foundation of Singapore, 2016)

Singapore has launched a framework for National Innovative and Enterprises based on Israel’s approach which provides education and financial supports to high growth enterprises to boosting entrepreneurship The government has pledged its sponsorship over five years to 2015 to nurture innovation and entrepreneurial spirit Supporting research, innovation and entrepreneurship is the solution given to transform the economy from labor to manufacturing industries

University-sponsored programs supported by Singapore government includes entrepreneurship centers, student startup accelerators, summer schools, overseas trips to major startup hubs (Silicon Valley, Stockholm, Beijing and Tel Aviv) SPRING Singapore is monitored by the National Innovation Agency, which includes 15 government-initiated incubators, promoting the development of venture capital funds and co-investing with private investors by funding up to 50% of salaries of technical staff, along with many programs to bring entrepreneurship education to schools and universities

South Korea

The “Creative Economy” initiative which was announced in 2013 by the Korean government, supervised by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning This is a funding commitment for promoting entrepreneurship and high growth enterprises This initiative is one of the government’s efforts to minimize the

country’s dependence on low-value production as well as promote the development

of new high growth enterprises It includes the following main activities:

- A national startup incentive program that motivates people to become entrepreneurs

- Free entrepreneurship education from primary to university

- 1,000 public libraries were transformed into new “innovation centers” to foster entrepreneurial ideas and thinking

- Funding for internships: giving students the internship opportunities in startup companies

From examples above, we can see some highlight characteristics of the countries owning entrepreneurial cultures:

- High-impact entrepreneurship is considered as an economic priority in national strategy;

- Innovation and entrepreneurship programs are overseen by a national agency;

- A range of supplemental programs address aspects of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, including culture, education, access to finance, technical skills, start-up expertise;

- Many programs at schools and universities are provided to attract young people in high impact enterprises;

The countries mentioned above are actively seeking to create a conducive environment for high-impact entrepreneurship They use the education system to introduce students to entrepreneurial spirit as well as equip them practical skills to build global competitive companies

2.8 Experiences from universities in the world

University of Cambridge, UK (Spike Innovation, 2015)

The Cambridge area is recognized as a hub of high-tech entrepreneurial business with approximately 1,500 technology companies in a wide range of

science and technology Over the past two decades, high impact entrepreneurs have become a part of the local culture The Business Learning Center (CfEL) came from the University of Cambridge and is funded by the British Government through the Higher Education Improvement Fund and from outside sources

CfEL aims to propagate entrepreneurship in all areas, especially high-impact entrepreneurship based on science and technology The majority of business education offered by CfEL is practiced, extracurricular, and unrecognized The major experiential programs offered by CfEL are:

Enterprise Tuesday: Introduce to students and staff to the world of

entrepreneurship, as well as encourage and inspire them to pursue their own entrepreneurial ambitions through free lectures

Enterprise WISE (for female entrepreneurs): An empirical education program in

science and technology through the implementation of a number lectures as well as working on group projects and inviting mentors at the end of the program

Ignite (since 1999): Until now, this program has supported over 700

postdoctoral students interested in establishing a startup company to commercialize their research through an extracurricular course during one week The course provides experienced mentors to help students generating business ideas and develop them into real startups based on their own research

Accelerate Cambridge: An accelerator program which combines training,

coaching, mentoring about entrepreneurship and access to a co-working space during 3 months.Investor pitching event is the culmination of this program

Business Creation Competition: The competition is run by the Association of

Cambridge University Entrepreneurs student

Cambridge University plays an important role in the development of entrepreneurial ecosystems in the region Approximately one-third of the 1,500 high-tech companies in Cambridge are developed from the entrepreneurship initiatives of the University of Cambridge CfEL currently attracts around 2,000

students each year Since 2003, CfEL has organized more than 200 programs and events, engaging more than 16,000 people in Cambridge

Figure 2.5 The University of Cambridge entrepreneurship journey map

Source: (Spike Innovation, 2015) National University of Singapore (NUS)

At NUS, the entrepreneurship ecosystem is led by NUS Enterprise which is founded in 2001 It is an independent division that provides a variety of empirical business education streams, including:

- Lean LaunchPad (during 12 week) intensive course delivered by the course’s creators (Steve Blank and Jerome Engel)

- Entrepreneurship Summer School (in two week): An intensive residential course which is built for international students provides insights and connections in the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Singapore

- NUS Startup Runway: A startup incubator engages local and international entrepreneurs as mentors

- (NOC) program (from 2002): An internship and overseas immersion program with the scope of 150 NUS students per year in high-growth tech startups

as interns in hubs such as Beijing, Silicon Valley, Tel Aviv, Stockholm and in parallel with studies at local universities such as KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stanford

- iLEAD: Internships in high-growth companies in Singapore and International companies which are expanding into the region

NUS has a major role in driving Singapore’s shift to entrepreneurial culture NUS has supported 360 student startups formation between 2001 and 2015, 1,800 students completed the iLEAD or NOC programs This created a large and valuable entrepreneurs alumni base with global experience and connections

(2) Incubation Offices in the University of Tokyo

Division of University Corporation Relations manages four types of incubation offices Entrepreneurs and startups, who are planning to commercialize technology from the University of Tokyo, can apply for those incubation offices One of the incubation offices, University of Tokyo Entrepreneur has laboratories for experimental research

(3) Todai mentors

Division of University Corporation Relations has five part-time mentors who support startups The mentors are business professionals and most of them (4/5) are from auditing firms

(4) UTokyo 1000k

Division of University Corporation Relations’ product idea contest for students and postdocs of the University of Tokyo, started in 2016 There are two types of competition, Technology type and Theme type In Technology type competition, applicants propose new products based on technology from the University of Tokyo On the other hand, applicants of Theme type competition propose products that fit annual theme of the competition For example, the topic for 2016 competition was “Time and Energy” The winner for each type awarded 250K JPY (2.5K USD) Competition is by application review and 3 minutes pitches

(6) The University of Tokyo Edge Capital

The University of Tokyo Edge Capital(UTEC) is a VC firm which invests in seed/early stage startups focusing on, but not exclusive to technologies from the University of Tokyo

Since its foundation in 2004, UTEC has raised 30 billion JPY in total for its three venture funds, and UTEC has invested in approximately 70 startups Within

70 startups, nine companies went public and eight were successfully purchased

(7) Innovation Platform for The University of Tokyo

Innovation Platform for The University of Tokyo(UTokyo IPC) is a VC firm established in 2016 by the University of Tokyo under Public-Private Innovation Partnership program of the Japanese government UTokyo IPC manages a VC fund that provides capital to other venture funds as “fund of funds” to promote commercialization of technology developed at the University of Tokyo The 1st IPC fund raises 25 billion JPY from the University of Tokyo(23 billion JPY) and commercial banks

Successful universities have the following common characteristics:

- Building a strong collaboration between university and local startup ecosystem (Universities have links with businesses in the region to organize practical courses, internships for students or invite experienced entrepreneurs as trainers, mentors of courses For the University of Tokyo, entrepreneurs and startups, who are planning to commercialize technology from the University of Tokyo, can apply for the incubation offices in this university)

- Entrepreneurship education programs are delivered by experienced entrepreneurs

- Students have many chances for engagement from short courses to experience programs through internships, overseas placements (NOC offers a number of practical courses at local and foreign businesses, CfEL has supported

over 700 postdoctoral students interested in establishing a startup company to commercialize their research through an extracurricular course)

- Focus on experiential programs: The universities mentioned above consider experiential programs as a core part of the entrepreneurial education program Participants have the opportunity to apply the theory in practice to build real business models, learn and experience in the regional and international businesses

- Government funding for the establishment and distribution of student entrepreneurship at a significant scale (Innovation Platform for The University of Tokyo under Public-Private Innovation Partnership program of the Japanese government; CfEL is funded by the British Government through the Higher Education Improvement Fund and from outside sources)