Fifth intangible: the need of safety nets

Entrepreneurship is an important value that should be developed during the university period. That goal should be undertaken not only for pushing some students to create their own new technology based businesses, but for strengthening certain skills and attitudes in students, who will be entreprising workers in the future.
Companies that trust on entrepreneur directors and enterprising staff are more likely to succeed in today’s globalized world. Indeed, the big difference between the entrepreneurial behaviour and the conservative one is usually the fear for failure, so that, to trust on someone is also to accept that failure is possible and also accept it as a consequence of enterprising character.
It is safer to make things as expected than taking those innovative steps that can change the future of your company. All of us know some example of this in the business world. Only societies in which failure is admitted as a direct consequence of taken risks support the entrepreneur with safety nets; They back entrepreneurs because it is the signal that a person has certain capabilities for innovation.
So that, if a society wishes to progress within a virtuous cycle, it has to establish safety nets that address the inherent failures of entrepreneurship.
How can University education contribute to accomplish this task? University has an important role in the development of the professional skills of young students. Among these skills we can find the capacity to solve a problem based in the acquired knowledge, critical thinking, team-working, self-confidence, and risk capacity. Moreover, education methodologies can foster the students’ skills towards trying new things, no matter the result that can be obtained. The slogan is: take risks, make mistakes. The important question is to showing them the positive side of mistakes, as a natural experience in the learning process. Thomas Edison said: I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. That’s the spirit.
New technologies are very useful in the implementation of these methodologies. Forums and wikipedias are tools to develop creative thinking around a subject. In this case, professors have the responsibility to create the safety net in this academic environment. We shouldn’t look down on the contribution that this type of education can make to society and to empowering the entrepreneurship behaviour in all levels.