The Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning interviewed William Aulet, a guest speaker at the European Entrepreneurship Colloquium (EEC 2012) in Cambridge, about creating and growing successful entrepreneurs in an academic institution.
In this wide-ranging interview, he talks about the role Universities should play in preparing students for a rapidly changing, entrepreneurial and global environment. It has been said that ‘you can polish a sneaker but you can’t make a shoe’ but Mr Aulet firmly believes that that Entrepreneurship can be taught and, indeed, all kinds of people can be entrepreneurs given the right kind of training, support and environment. In fact, he says this leads to the creation of better entrepreneurs with a solid foundation of education, skills and knowledge that make informed business decisions. There needs to be an environment created where students can experiment, fail and most importantly learn. He also emphasises the need to ensure that Universities and educational activities connect to the outside world and translate learning and innovation into organisations that can ‘make it real’.
