The ugly truth about technology

Henry Chesbrough, the author of Open Innovation, writes:

Technology by itself has no single objective value. The economic value of a technology remains latent until it is commercialized in some way via a business model. The same technology commercialized in two different ways will yield two different returns. 

doi:10.1016/j.lrp.2009.07.010

One of the key differences between corporate and entrepreneurial innovation is availability of a running business model, i.e. an implemented way to convert a technological innovation into money. Within an established corporation, a number of business models are readily available, therefore inventors/innovators can and will focus on technology development. In short, within a corporation technologists and business managers think in their respective dimensions.
On the other hand, in a startup, a business model often is being built along with the technology. Therefore, an entrepreneur, either an engineer or a business[wo]man, has to think in at least two dimensions: technology and business.

Today's education in engineering schools follows the corporate innovation model, which was dominant 50 years ago. Only in few places, like Stanford and UC Berkeley, entrepreneurship is taught to engineers directly, or, more often, absorbed by students from "the air" in the Silicon Valley.

quote, system, business, model, innovation, education, 4q diagram,