1. 18 Whakapuaki kā Rakahau: 2015 Research highlights from Otago Polytechnic
Four years ago, Eva and colleagues Steve Silvey,
Ruth Appleby and Gavin Clark, had a vision to create
six-week intensive entrepreneurial ‘boot camps’ called
SEED (Student Enterprise Experience in Dunedin) for
a small group of highly-motivated participants.
Although the boot camps included a taught
element, they were not a traditional course, instead
relying heavily on self-learning, self-exploration and
experiential action. Unlike start-up weekends, the
focus was on creating collaborative networking
as opposed to a competitive environment using
empathy mapping, user-centred design thinking
and lean business principles.
“What we noticed over the course of these SEED
events was that they really changed the way
the individuals thought about problems and
opportunities,” Eva notes. “Having participants
from a variety of disciplines including marketing,
commerce, design, IT, medicine, chemistry, law and
others enabled great things to happen where the
edges of these disciplines met.”
The results of the follow-up surveys showed
that as a result of the boot camps, perceived
improved. In addition, the number of participants
who indicated they would like to undertake further
formal study in entrepreneurship doubled from the
time of starting the course.
“This research prepares students for a changing global
employment context in which traditional salaried jobs
are slowly being phased out and self-reliant income
generation will soon become the normal employment
situation. What we did was show people how to
adapt and make that leap by thinking wider and
breaking out of narrow lenses,” says Eva.
Cornwall, J., Kirkwood, J., Clark, J., Silvey, S., Appleby,
R., Wolkenhauer, M., Panjabi, J., Gluyas, E., Brain, C. &
entrepreneurial ability, knowledge and intent, or further
entrepreneurial study? An assessment of the SEED
programme, Dunedin, New Zealand. Industry and Higher
Education, Volume 29, Number 5, October 2015, pp. 397-
404(8).
Breaking out of silos
Imagine a new opportunity, challenge the status quo, interact and empathise with
the customer, prototype, test, evaluate and then reiterate. This is the philosophy of
Eva Gluyas, Commercial Strategist and Manager of workSpace, Otago Polytechnic’s
business solutions enterprise.
18 Whakapuaki kā Rakahau: 2015 Research highlights from Otago Polytechnic