Abstract:

Entrepreneurship is recognized nowadays as the driving force of a market economy, while technology-driven entrepreneurship tends to become a standard for early-stage businesses in Europe and worldwide. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) holds a major part of any business nowadays and it is either the primary factor or a major one in any technology driven business enterprise.

We describe in this paper the project “Computing Innovation for Technology Entrepreneurship” developed by University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest (UPB) from Romania and Østfold University College (ØUC) from Norway. The project addresses the development in Romania of education for Information and Communications Technology Entrepreneurship (ICTE), aiming to increase the development of new businesses, based on innovation and new technologies. The Faculty of Engineering in Foreign Languages (FILS) is the faculty from UPB which prepares bilingual and multilingual specialists in engineering with a wide area of expertise, capable of filling the needs of Romanian companies with partnerships from abroad and foreign enterprises established in Romania. Østfold University College, created in 1994, is a modern higher education institution in Norway and will act as the Donor State Partner in this project. Faculty of Computer Sciences in ØUC offers bachelor and master courses in the area of Computer Science (CS), including the master of applied computer science, considered one of the top three master programs in computer science in Norway.

The project will introduce two new subjects – “Information and Communications Technology Entrepreneurship” for the Engineering and Management master students and “Information and Communications Technology based Innovation” for the Computer and Information Technology master students. The lectures will be developed by a large number of Romanian academic staff, the authors of this paper. Each one is acting in his area of expertise, ensuring the multidisciplinary approach of this complex undertaking. This will be attended by lectures delivered by the Norway partners, common research efforts with implication of the students, mobilities for the students and professors and access to the knowhow and experience of the Norway partners.

The impact envisaged in this project addresses foremost a change of habits in the Romanian learning system. Professors should prepare the students for the professions required by the market since a good training represents a welcome advantage for the graduate in launching a business or on the labor market. The key of success for this project consists in the existence at FILS of Master Programs in the Computer and Information Technology and in the Engineering and Management fields, the existence of a successful subject of Technology Entrepreneurship and the existence of an Entrepreneurship Hub at FILS.

The existing good results of the graduates as entrepreneurs in IT and communications will be enriched by the excellence in CS research of the ØUC partners, by the dedicated know-how of the Romanian professors and by the relations to be developed within the project.

Keywords:

Computing Innovation, Technology Entrepreneurship.