Andrey Ivashchenko: “In our time there cannot be successful non-technological entrepreneurs”

To ensure technological sovereignty, leading universities could become new “development institutions” that, based on technological entrepreneurship, will bridge the gap between science and industry in key areas.

Andrey Ivashchenko, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the ChemRar Group, Head of the Department of Innovative Pharmaceuticals, Medical Equipment and Biotechnology at MIPT, took part in the discussion “ EdTech Implementation Center ” as part of the SberUniversity conference , which was dedicated to the best practices in the development of technological entrepreneurship in universities.

During the discussion, the participants discussed and unanimously came to the conclusion that currently any entrepreneur who is engaged in the development of a project or business must be technologically advanced in order to withstand competition and strive to take a leading position in the market.

“In our time, there cannot be successful non-tech entrepreneurs. It is possible to achieve local and short-term success based on the shortage that has arisen, in some narrow niche, but if this is a successful long-growing business, then it must have technologies inside it. Technologies now provide so much efficiency that if you don’t “build” this efficiency into your business, then you lose the competition,” Andrei Aleksandrovich Ivashchenko began his speech with the definition of a modern entrepreneur .

Therefore, customer-focused technology entrepreneurship is a prerequisite for any startup team, consisting of people with a certain set of competencies, such as a certain technical background, creativity, perseverance and belief in inevitable success. Speakers were divided on whether it is possible to develop entrepreneurs at universities. Despite the fact that entrepreneurship is a skill that can be developed in almost every person, the practice of Russian universities shows that startups consisting only of students are usually short-lived.

“It is impossible to train an entrepreneur at a university. It is an illusion that at a university you can create a serious startup with the help of students. But! At the university, you can just give students the opportunity to make several attempts, let them “fall” several times, and preferably sparingly, so as not to seriously break their foreheads. And the main thing is to give the guys in the “master-apprentice” mode the opportunity to gain entrepreneurial competencies from experienced technology entrepreneurs. This experience will be the key to the fact that they will later have their own successful entrepreneurial project,” says Andrey Ivashchenko.

It was especially noted that technological entrepreneurship is necessary in a wide range of projects both in business and in the social and government spheres.

The unique experience and plans for the development of the legendary Physics and Technology, which has been ranked first in the ranking of the most entrepreneurial universities in the country for several years, were presented. Today, Phystech has set itself the ambitious task of “ import substitution for Silicon Valley” and making its contribution to ensuring Russia’s technological sovereignty. And this task cannot be accomplished without technological entrepreneurship. Therefore, Phystech plans to ensure that the best technology startups and teams are attracted like a magnet to the Phystech ecosystem and receive significant scientific personnel and financial resources to scale their business aimed at bridging the gap between science and industry in key technological areas.

Today, the purpose of the educational system is not limited to the transfer of knowledge. The main challenge is to transform this knowledge into innovative products and advanced technologies. Therefore, training technological entrepreneurs and learning to create innovations in accordance with the country’s development vector is a priority for leading educational institutions.

the Sber University conference “The future is already here: a person supplemented by technology” in a face-to-face format and more than 13,000 in an online format.

Link to Andrey Ivashchenko’s speech as part of the discussion on the “EdTech Implementation Center” YouTube: https://youtu.be/xv0ySWfRMfQ?si=qpyA0_kvAitx-Ex8