CMU Portugal Entrepreneurship Workshop, 17-18 December

The CMU Portugal PhD program in Technological Change and Entrepreneurship will present a workshop:

Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Human Capital
FCEE-Católica, Lisbon
17-18 December 2010

For complete information please download the program: CMU Portugal Entrepreneurship Workshop 2010.

From the Introduction:

“One of the major socio-economic trends since the 1990s is the rise of entrepreneurship as a driver of innovation, competitiveness and economic development. One central aspect in the creation and growth of knowledge-based firms is the role played by the human capital of the entrepreneur. Human capital entails the stock of knowledge and skills that reside within individuals and that can be developed over time. This includes general human capital, which comprises formal education, and previous job-market experience. But it also entails specific human capital, encompassing prior experiences that might be more relevant for an individual to decide on engaging in the development of knowledge-based firms. For instance, entrepreneurial experience, top management experience, or previous work experience in the same sector where the new firm is being started are likely to endow individuals with knowledge and skills that are specific for the tasks required from a knowledge-based entrepreneur.

“The last two decades have seen the emergence of encompassing data sources linking individuals and firms over time. Such data sets are rare and hard to access. These longitudinal datasets can be used to track the evolution of markets and individual firm performance as well as individuals’ professional and entrepreneurial experiences over time, allowing for the examination of their decisions and behavioral patterns in the labor market. Some of these longitudinal datasets match employees, employers, patents and their characteristics over time.

“This workshop aims to present and discuss cutting edge work from leading researchers in the areas of entrepreneurship and innovation focusing on the role played by human capital in the entrepreneurial and innovation processes. Most papers will leverage new longitudinal databases, often in connection with other complementary sources of data.”