Entrepreneurial Pursuit for Identity

Hunting for Heffalumps The Supply of Entrepreneurship and Economic Development David Burnett Founder, Technopreneurial.com September 2000 Throughout the theoretical history of entrepreneurship, scholars from multiple disciplines in the social sciences have grappled with a diverse set of interpretations and definitions to conceptualize this abstract idea. Over time, "some writers have identified entrepreneurship with the function of uncertainty-bearing, others with the coordination of productive resources, others with the introduction of innovation, and still others with the provision of capital" (Hoselitz, 1952). Even though certain themes continually resurface throughout the history of entrepreneurship theory, presently there is no single definition of entrepreneurship that is accepted by all economists or that is applicable in every economy. Although there is only limited consensus about the defining characteristics of entrepreneurship, the concept is almost as old as the formal discipline of economics itself.         The term "entrepreneur" was first introduced by the early 18th century French economist Richard Cantillon. In his writings, he formally defines the entrepreneur as the "agent who buys means of production at certain prices in order to combine them" into a new product (Schumpeter, 1951). Shortly thereafter, the French economist J.B. Say added to Cantillon's definition by including the idea that entrepreneurs had to be leaders. Say claims that an entrepreneur is one who brings other people together in order to build a single productive organism (Schumpeter, 1951). Over the next century, British economists such as Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and John Stuart Mill briefly touched on the concept of entrepreneurship, though they referred to it under the broad English term of "business management." Whereas the writings of Smith and Ricardo suggest that they likely undervalued the importance of entrepreneurship, Mill goes out of his way to stress the significance of entrepreneurship for economic growth. In his writings, Mill claims that entrepreneurship requires "no ordinary skill," and he laments the fact that there is no good English equivalent word to encompass the specific meaning of the French term entrepreneur (Schumpeter, 1951).         The necessity of entrepreneurship for production was first formally recognized by Alfred Marshall in 1890. In his famous treatise Principles of Economics, Marshall asserts that there are four factors of production: land, labor, capital, and organization. Organization is the coordinating factor, which brings the other factors together, and Marshall believed that entrepreneurship is the driving element behind organization. By creatively organizing, entrepreneurs create new commodities or improve "the plan of producing an old commodity" (Marshall, 1994). In order to do this, Marshall believed that entrepreneurs must have a thorough understanding about their industries, and they must be natural leaders.       Additionally, Marshall's entrepreneurs must have the ability to foresee changes in supply and demand and be willing to act on such risky forecasts in the absence of complete information (Marshall, 1994). Like Mill, Marshall suggests that the skills associated with entrepreneurship are rare and limited in supply. He claims that the abilities of the entrepreneur are "so great and so numerous that very few people can exhibit them all in a very high degree" (1994). Marshall, however, implies that people can be taught to acquire the abilities that are necessary to be an entrepreneur. Unfortunately, the opportunities for entrepreneurs are often limited by the economic environment which surrounds them. Additionally, although entrepreneurs share some common abilities, all entrepreneurs are different, and their successes depend on the economic situations in which they attempt their endeavors (Marshall, 1994).            Since the time of Marshall, the concept of entrepreneurship has continued to undergo theoretical evolution. For example, whereas Marshall believed entrepreneurship was simply the driving force behind organization, many economists today, but certainly not all, believe that entrepreneurship is by itself the fourth factor of production that coordinates the other three (Arnold, 1996). Unfortunately, although many economists agree that entrepreneurship is necessary for economic growth, they continue to debate over the actual role that entrepreneurs play in generating economic growth. One school of thought on entrepreneurship suggests that the role of the entrepreneur is that of a risk-bearer in the face of uncertainty and imperfect information. Knight claims that an entrepreneur will be willing to bear the risk of a new venture if he believes that there is a significant chance for profit (Swoboda, 1983). Although many current theories on entrepreneurship agree that there is an inherent component of risk, the risk-bearer theory alone cannot explain why some individuals become entrepreneurs while others do not. For example, following from Knight, Mises claims any person who bears the risk of losses or any type of uncertainty could be called an entrepreneur under this narrow-definition of the entrepreneur as the risk-bearer (Swoboda, 1983). Thus, in order to build a development model of entrepreneurship it is necessary to look at some of the other characteristics that help explain why some people are entrepreneurs; risk may be a factor, but it is not the only one.             Another modern school of thought claims that the role of the entrepreneur is that of an innovator; however, the definition of innovation is still widely debatable. Kirzner suggests that the process of innovation is actually that of spontaneous "undeliberate learning" (Kirzner, 1985, 10). Thus, the necessary characteristic of the entrepreneur is alertness, and no intrinsic skills-other than that of recognizing opportunities-are necessary. Other economists in the innovation school side more with Mill and Marshall than with Kirzner; they claim that entrepreneurs have special skills that enable them to participate in the process of innovation. Along this line, Leibenstein claims that the dominant, necessary characteristic of entrepreneurs is that they are gap-fillers: they have the ability to perceive where the market fails and to develop new goods or processes that the market demands but which are not currently being supplied. Thus, Leibenstein posits that entrepreneurs have the special ability to connect different markets and make up for market failures and deficiencies. Additionally, drawing from the early theories of Say and Cantillon, Leibenstein suggests that entrepreneurs have the ability to combine various inputs into new innovations in order to satisfy unfulfilled market demand (Leibenstein, 1995).             Although many economists accept the idea that entrepreneurs are innovators, it can be difficult to apply this theory of entrepreneurship to less developed countries (LDCs). Often in LDCs, entrepreneurs are not truly innovators in the traditional sense of the word. For example, entrepreneurs in LDCs rarely produce brand new products; rather, they imitate the products and production processes that have been invented elsewhere in the world (typically in developed countries). This process, which occurs in developed countries as well, is called "creative imitation" (Drucker, 1985) The term appears initially paradoxical; however, it is quite descriptive of the process of innovation that actually occurs in LDCs. Creative imitation takes place when the imitators better understand how an innovation can be applied, used, or sold in their particular market niche (namely their own countries) than do the people who actually created or discovered the original innovation. Thus, the innovation process in LDCs is often that of imitating and adapting, instead of the traditional notion of new product or process discovery and development.           As the above discussion demonstrates, throughout the evolution of entrepreneurship theory, different scholars have posited different characteristics that they believe are common among most entrepreneurs. By combining the above disparate theories, a generalized set of entrepreneurship qualities can be developed. In general, entrepreneurs are risk-bearers, coordinators and organizers, gap-fillers, leaders, and innovators or creative imitators. Although this list of characteristics is by no means fully comprehensive, it can help explain why some people become entrepreneurs while others do not. Thus, by encouraging these qualities and abilities, governments can theoretically alter their country's supply of domestic entrepreneurship.

Latest Science Technology By -PRANAV MISTRY

The biography and achievements of Pranac Mistry is here at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCFtKV1T7GA

SixthSense prototype Pranav Mistry's

The SixthSense technology contain a pocket projector, a mirror and a camera contained in a pendant-like, wearable device. Both the projector the camera and sensors are connected to a mobile computing device in the user's pocket. The projector projects visual information enabling surfaces, walls and physical objects around us to be used as interfaces; while the camera recognizes and tracks users' hand gestures and physical objects using computer-vision based techniques.[1] The software program processes the video stream data captured by the camera and tracks the locations of the colored markers (visual tracking fiducials) at the tips of the user's fingers. The movements and arrangements of these fiducials are interpreted into gestures that act as interaction instructions for the projected application interfaces. SixthSense supports multi-touch and multi-user interaction.

Pranav Mistry (b. 1981 in Palanpur, India) is an Indian computer scientist. Recently he joined Samsung electronic. Previously he was a research assistant and a PhD candidate at MIT Media Lab.
Before joining MIT Pranav worked as a UX Researcher with Microsoft. Pranav holds a Master's degree in Media Arts and Sciences from MIT and Master of Design from Industrial Design Center, IIT Bombay. He has completed Bachelors' degree in Computer Science and Engineering.[1] He is from Palanpur, which is situated in northern Gujarat in India. Mistry is best known for his work on SixthSense.[2][3][4] Among some of his other work, Pranav has invented Mouseless -- an invisible computer mouse; SPARSH -- a novel way to copy-paste data between digital devices; Quickies -- intelligent sticky notes that can be searched, located and can send reminders and messages; Blinkbot - a gaze and blink controlled robot; a pen that can draw in 3D; and a public map that can act as Google of physical world. Pranav's research interests include Augmented reality, Ubiquitous computing, Gestural interaction, AI, Machine vision, Collective intelligence and Robotics.
Pranav's research on SixthSense was awarded the 2009 Invention Award by Popular Science.[2] He was also named to the MIT Technology Review TR35 as one of the top 35 innovators in the world under the age of 35.[5] In 2010, he was named to Creativity Magazine's Creativity 50.[6] Mistry has been called "one of ten, best inventors in the world right now"[7] by Chris Anderson. Mistry has been listed as one of the 15 Asian Scientists To Watch by Asian Scientist Magazine on 15 May 2011.[8] GQ India listed Pranav as one of the most powerful Digital Indians.[9][10] Recently, He was also listed as one of the 37 Indians of Tomorrow by India Today[11]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3IOesCmkZ4

A house that runs itself? Samsung believes it's about time

Imagine the alarm clock ringing on a typical Monday morning, except this time the curtains draw themselves back, the bathroom lights switch on automatically and you smell fresh coffee brewing.

Read more at:http://phys.org/news/2015-09-house-samsung-believes.html

Power Up with Pee: New Fuel Cell Could Generate Cheap Electricity

Instead of just flushing it away, your pee could one day generate power. Researchers have developed a way to create affordable and renewable electricity with a fuel cell that runs on urine.

http://www.livescience.com/54588-pee-powered-fuel-cells-cheap-electricity.html?

ENT600 and ENT530 Sept-Jan 2016

Technology Entrepreneurship (ENT600) with three groups of Science and Technology students from Marine Technology (AS), Sport Science (SR) and Mathematic Management (CS) programs begin on September 14, 2015. Some new projects were proposed this semester, group project should realized a commercializable technology-based ventures and individual project requires students to register a sole proprietorship from SSM and run a start-up fitting own interest. At the end of the semester besides hard copy reports, students are also required to submit a CD of the activity performed throughout the semester.

Principles of Entrepreneurship (ENT530) with two groups of Business Management students from Bachelor Degree of Finance (BM242). Group project focuses on exploration in Travel and Tour industry while individual project embarks on writing a review on any one of technology entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, international entrepreneurship and corporate entrepreneurship themes.

Both course's group project outcomes will be exhibited and presented in our Sixth NEBUVA to be held in the end of December 2015.

File photo CS228 2014

Technopreneurship Project Presentation December 2013

Here are some projects presented for evaluation and exhibition at STAR complex UiTM Perlis.

The ideas, technology and entrepreneurship shall lead and shape our future!