The scientific entrepreneur - more myth than reality

March 23, 2008

Every now and then one runs into a set of posts that don’t necessarily have anything to do with each other, but seem to have an underlying thread.

Today Paul Kedrosky writes about Craig Venter’s TED Talk. Craig is not always popular in the science community. While I have always found him to be too much of a “me” person, I have long admired his ability to get behind an idea and take it to completion. In other words, he talks the talk even if his approach might not be to my liking. Paul points to an article by Steve Shapin in which Steve describes Craig Venter as emblematic of the entrepreneurial scientist; “Belligerent, innovative, ambitious and entrepreneurial”.

Like Paul, I believe that this is not really true. In fact, far from it. While the modern academic scientist might be more entrepreneurial than in the past, the system really hasn’t changed and our approach is much the same as it has been for a long time, at least by and large.

Then there was this essay by Paul Graham: You weren’t meant to have a boss. Now, I had a lot of issues with that post, but that aside, there was considerable food for thought there. One must remember that the target audience for this is tech entrepreneurs, specifically the kinds of developers that Y Combinator targets, but it did get me thinking, especially in the context of the earlier post.

One must understand that academia plays a greater role in science than in other technology fields. Inherently, understanding the fundamentals is an academic pursuit and much of science is . Now science is also a huge field and the skills aren’t exactly transferable, but we seem to lack that “go do it” culture that is found more often in the tech world. A culture that allows groups of like minded individuals to come together and bring something to life. Are the risks higher? Many times more risky. Is the barrier to entry higher? Yes, and for good reason, but in my experience, even within academic settings, scientists are not exactly entrepreneurial. Entrepreneurial doesn’t necessarily mean trying to set up a company and making a ton of money, although that is part of it. We are talking about an environment and culture that encourages individual or small group innovation and not just within the confines of traditional funding models.

Maybe we need more Craig Venter’s. More people willing to take risks and push the boundaries and people willing to work with them. I am probably not the right person to say all this, since I never quite took charge myself, choosing instead to move to the business end of things, but exposure to the tech community in the last few years has opened my eyes, and what galls me is that in so many ways science is sexier and cooler than tech and has so much to offer, but we seem to get stuck in our ways and the models we are familiar with.

It’s Sunday, so hopefully I am forgiven a ramble. Perhaps it’s a case of tech envy, especially when I think the smarter people are in the sciences.

Further Reading:
Microfunding for research and innovation
Freelancing Science

Technorati Tags: Entrepreneurship, Academia