This book presents readers with the opportunity to fundamentally re-evaluate the processes of innovation and entrepreneurship, and to rethink how they might best be stimulated and fostered within our organizations and communities. The fundamental thesis of the book is that the entrepreneurial process is not a linear progression from novel idea to successful innovation, but is an iterative series of experiments, where progress depends on the persistence and resilience of the individuals involved, and their ability and to learn from failure as well as success. From this premise, the authors argue that the ideal environment for new venture creation is a form of "experimental laboratory," a community of innovators where ideas are generated, shared, and refined; experiments are encouraged; and which in itself serves as a test environment for those ideas and experiments. This environment is quite different from the traditional "incubator," which may impose the disciplines of the established firm too early in the development of the new venture.

Featuring case examples of start-ups across a wide spectrum of industries, from Wikipedia to Ryanair, the authors explore the qualities of successful innovation, including a high tolerance of risk and unpredictability and commitment to building knowledge enterprises that value intangible assets. This volume is a clarion call to those in academia, enterprise, and government who seek to work together to promote innovation and entrepreneurship, with a stark message for academic institutions: engage or be left behind.

Inhalt
Introduction.- University Ecosystems Design Creative Spaces for Start-up Experimentation.- Capitalizing on Open Innovation 2.0.- Laboratory Experiments as a Tool in the Empirical Economic Analysis of High-Expectation Entrepreneurship.- Accelerating Venture Creation and Building on Mutual Strengths in Experimental Business Labs.- From Entrepreneurial Fission to Entrepreneurial Fusion: Achieving Interaction Resonance in Micro-innovation Ecology.- Experiencing Experiments: A Multiplayer Game for Sharing Ideas.- What's New In Launching of Start-ups? Features and Implications of Laboratory Experiments.- Resourcing Lab Experiments for New Ventures: The Potential of a Start-up Database.- Experimental Labs for Start-ups: The Role of the 'Venture-sitter'.- Experimenting Social Constructivist Approach in Entrepreneurial Process-based Training: Cases in Social, Creative and Technology Entrepreneurship.- Wikipedia: Harnessing Collaborative Intelligence.- Business Model Experimentation: What is the Role of Design-led Innovation and Design-led Prototyping in Developing Novel Business Models?.- Taking Advantage of Experiments to Run Technology Companies: The Shimmer Research Case.