Abstract:

Many Software management tools can offer great value to Businesses and Entrepreneurs.

Three years ago we launched a project aiming at understanding how the learning curve of these tools could be reduced when implementing serious games and pedagogical approaches to the design of these tools. There are two separated dimensions to this initiative: Redesigning Management Tools through the “learn as you go” concept and creating a standard that will enable all entrepreneur support organizations to share their collective knowledge.

The second dimension can be better understood as the creation of what we have defined as the “Entrepreneurs Universe of USEFUL COLLECTIVE KNOWLEDGE”.

The idea is simple: Imagine a platform where experts effectively receive multidimensional compensations for developed content and where entrepreneurs are rewarded with recognitions, points and higher valuations when they successfully implement procedures and strategies, follow courses or advance in the materialization of their start-ups.

Imagine experts working collaboratively to define business strategies and processes whilst having access to benchmarks from over 1 million businesses and entrepreneurs.

We want these strategies and processes to be importable by all entrepreneurs in such a way that they are directly implemented into the entrepreneur’s management tools. In this way specific objectives and indicators would appear directly in his balanced scorecard and actions would go to his project manager, where he would be able to reassign the tasks to his team members.

The Practical Result, after having analyzed more than 1200 entrepreneur tools and having contacted more than 250 leading incubators in more than 20 countries, is an interactive on-line platform that automatically adapts to each entrepreneur to facilitate the work done by entrepreneur support organizations, enabling them to multiply by four the added value they offer to entrepreneurs.

We have already developed the on-line collaborative platform that verifies the three main characteristics of the "Useful Collective Knowledge":
1. It is directly importable to the entrepreneur management tools.
2. It is interconnected to a double motivation scheme, based on gaming theory to encourage entrepreneurs and experts alike.
3. It takes the form of graphs of interconnected assimilated Information developed by leading experts in each field with guided itineraries to help entrepreneurs implement it in practice.

We are implementing it as a pilot in Madrid, aiming to interconnect and empower different types of prestigious entrepreneur support organizations, including seed-capitals, universities, technology parks, incubators and incubator networks, entrepreneurship masters, regional development organizations and tutoring institutions.

During 2011 we will start receiving results to confirm or deny the impact a pedagogical approach to management software will have on the learning curve and the percentage/degree of adoption of these tools by entrepreneurs.

Keywords:

Artificial Intelligence, Collaboration, Useful Knowledge, Gaming Theory, Serious Games, New Tech, Personalization, Mind Maps.