I have met Dr. Dan Schechtman, who was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "the discovery of quasicrystals." What does a Nobel Prize winner has to say about entrepreneurship? First and foremost, he emphasizes that “entrepreneurship is the only way to maintain long-term peace.”
Dr. Schechtman is a full time professor at Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, the oldest university in Israel, founded in 1912. With 10 thousand undergraduates and 3,000 graduate students, Technion is Israel’s MIT.
Technion is placed in Haifa, Israel’s technological center. Dr. Schechtman explained that the main reason why companies like IBM, Intel and Qualcomm installed their R&D Center in Haifa was to be close to Technion:
Many things you buy from Intel were designed here in the Haifa R&D center by Technion graduates.”
Ron Waldman, Partner at Asia Business Gateway , goes further:
90 of the top 100 Israeli companies are led by Technion graduates.”
Daniel Rouach, president of the Israel-France chamber of commerce (CCIIF), added that huge multinationals are, sometimes, contacted by Israel’s government to help on “delicate projects.” Mr. Rouach shared an anecdote that illustrates the relevance of these partnerships:
The CEO of a Fortune500 company that has a R&D center in Israel once came to Israel but couldn’t visit certain parts of his own company’s facilities. Why!? Because the multinational was working with Israel’s military services. The two parts had signed a non sharing agreement and only involved scientists had authorization to be on certain premises.”
A summary of Dr Shechtman’s views on entrepreneurship:
The only way to maintain long term peace in any country is by encouraging and teaching people to open companies. If a country doesn’t foster entrepreneurship, it will have to rely on natural resources. However, these natural resources will extinguish one day. This partially explains, as well, why Israel, not having natural resources, had to become a Start-up Nation.
The concept of nation is not natural. In the past, human beings organized themselves in tribes before nations. Basically, many countries are united tribes. If countries don’t focus on opening startups, they will extinguish their natural resources and tribal conflicts will take place again.
Realizing this 26 years ago, I started teaching “technological entrepreneurship” to provide students the necessary tools for launching companies either upon graduation or after a few years of working in a company. I have already taught over 10,000 students. In this class, which is open to all the students at Technion, I bring 5 kinds of guest speakers:
1st: Bootstrapping entrepreneurs.Entrepreneurs who did it on their own, without external financial help. Successful people who usually started in their basement, garage or kitchen...
2nd: Entrepreneurs that are struggling NOW. For instance, one company that did not hire the right people, another that need better marketing research...
3rd: Lawyers to teach “The different kinds of ownerships,” “What is a company?”
4th: Patent examiners to explain what is a patent, how to register it, where, when, costs involved.
5th: A marketing professional who will teach students key tools about marketing research."
Dr. Schectman’s main goal is fostering entrepreneurship mindset through education and learning. “People are afraid of opening startups because they know that most fail.
He said that it is easier to be an entrepreneur in Israel than in the East because of cultural differences. While in China failure is seem as a shame on the family, in Israel people believe that if you fail, you become a better business man because you won’t commit the same mistakes again. (That makes me think about the 6th commandment of Innovation: Multiply attempts and never commit the same mistake twice.)
Dr. Schectman also said that the ideal startup needs at least three people: a geek, a financial wizard, and a generalist manager.
He went on sharing polemic views against Venture Capitalists who “are only concerned in making money and focusing on the exit strategy. Entrepreneurs should treat their companies like their babies. Your goal shouldn’t be to sell your baby when he is fiver years old and go do another.”
He also shared polemic opinions about nuclear energy. “Germany decided to close the nuclear reactors. I met the German ambassador in Israel and asked him what are you doing!? Who will provide you the energy? Wind!? Noo! You will buy energy from France, who produces it with nuclear reactions. Don’t close nuclear reactors. Build safer ones.”
It is not that often that I have the chance to talk to a Nobel Prize winner. I hope you have enjoyed his views on entrepreneurship. These were extracts of a conference Dr. Dan Schechtman gave to a group of innovative students from ESCP Europe, the world’s oldest business school, about Entrepreneurship.
