Hein Roelfsema: ‘Entrepreneurship Is Business, Art, and Research’
Trends in international business, opportunities for entrepreneurship, new markets and innovation – these were all topics covered by Professor Hein Roelfsema during a recent working trip when he held discussions for the Department of Venture Management staff on their joint research report ‘Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in Developing Economies.’ During his trip, he also delivered a course in Venture Investment for Master’s students of management at HSE University in Nizhny Novgorod.
Prof. Roelfsema’s professional interests have focused on entrepreneurial ecosystems for over 20 years. Together with staff from the Faculty of Management, he is working on a large-scale study entitled ‘Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in Developing Economies.’ The research is being carried out in several areas, including Human Capital Development, Entrepreneurial Education, Knowledge Transfer, and Modelling Entrepreneurial Ecosystems.
According to Prof. Roelfsema, entrepreneurship is impossible without thorough research, while research is impossible without entrepreneurship: ‘Research is very interesting, it is a continuous search for new solutions, just like entrepreneurship is. I would even compare it to art: to achieve recognition in the arts, you have to work hard and keep inventing something new.’
For developing countries, entrepreneurship is one of the key drivers of economic growth. Prof. Roelfsema has authored numerous papers on entrepreneurial strategies in international business in collaboration with educational institutions and business schools in Africa, Central Europe and the Middle East. In Russia, Prof. Roelfsema collaborates with universities in Moscow, Kazan, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, and Nizhny Novgorod.