Jan Brinckmann analyzes how competencies of founders of new technology-based firms affect the development of their ventures. The research is grounded in competence-related literature and combines insights from entrepreneurship and management research.

The objectives of the series are to provide up to date research on a variety of aspects of High Technology Small Firm formation and growth (HTSFs) from a range of interdisciplinary perspectives.

"Great teams are comprised of ordinary people that are empowered and inspired. They are empowered to solve hard problems in ways their customers love yet work for their business. They are inspired with ideas and techniques for quickly evaluating those ideas to discover solutions that work: they are valuable, usable, feasible and viable. This book is about the idea and reality of "achieving extraordinary results from ordinary people". Empowered is the companion to Inspired. It addresses the other half of the problem of building tech products?how to get the absolute best work from your product teams. However, the book's message applies much more broadly than just to product teams. Inspired was aimed at product managers. Empowered is aimed at all levels of technology-powered organizations: founders and CEO's, leaders of product, technology and design, and the countless product managers, product designers and engineers that comprise the teams. This book will not just inspire companies to empower their employees but will teach them how. This book will help readers achieve the benefits of truly empowered teams"--

These proceedings represent the work of contributors to the 10th European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ECIE 2015), hosted this year by The University of Genoa, Italy on the 17-18 September 2015. The Conference Chair is Prof Luca Beltrametti and the Programme Co-chairs are Prof Renata Paola Dameri, Prof. Roberto Garelli and Prof. Marina Resta, all from the University of Genoa. ECIE continues to develop and evolve. Now in its 10th year the key aim remains the opportunity for participants to share ideas and meet the people who hold them. The scope of papers will ensure an interesting two days. The subjects covered illustrate the wide range of topics that fall into this important and growing area of research. The opening keynote presentation is given by Marco Doria – Mayor of Genoa on the topic of Innovation and entrepreneurship in Genoa: past, present and future. A second keynote will be given by Flavia Marzano from the National board for innovation and Italian digital agenda on the topic of Innovation: New visions not just new technologies. The second day Keynote will be given by Roberto Santoro, President of the European Society of Concurrent Engineering Network (ESoCE Net) on the topic of People Olympics for healthy and active living: A people driven social innovation platform. In addition to the main themes of the conference there are a number of specialist mini tracks on topics including Innovation and strategy, Entrepreneurship education in action, The theory and practice of collaboration in entrepreneurship and Challenges for entrepreneurship and innovation n the 21st Century. With an initial submission of 275 abstracts, after the double blind, peer review process there are 88 Academic research papers, 6 PhD research papers, 1 Masters Research paper, 4 work-in-progress papers and 1 Non-academic paper published in these Conference Proceedings. These papers represent research from Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, , France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hungary, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, , Kuwait, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Romania, Russia, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Thailand, UK and USA

This book places knowledge, learning and innovation at the heart of cross-sector collaborations. Collaboration for innovation is a topic that has attracted widespread interest from academics, business strategists and government officials. To date the collaborations have focused on the performance management process and more specifically on how to encourage collaboration. However, businesses across the world are realizing that for cross-sector collaboration to be successful, it is necessary for firms to share knowledge and innovation through a process of learning. The book contributes to this by providing fresh insights into ways to stimulate cross-sector collaboration. It presents diverse methods and approaches to unify the dimensions of knowledge, learning and innovation and discusses how collaboration can be created, sustained, and expanded.

The state of affairs of contemporary higher education has been described as chaotic, highly competitive, and constrained with institutional roadblocks and bureaucracy. Despite obstacles, several academic leaders defied conventional wisdom and took on an aggressive path toward innovation and change. This book captures the viewpoints of thought leaders in the contemporary education landscape. With insights from academic administrators and experts from around the world, this book is poised to be the official “how to guide” for success in the management of educational institutions. Volume II focuses on the organizing and controlling management functions of universities.