Motivations and the context of transforming research into innovations and business : Case SPARK Finland

Abstract

The goal of this thesis was to find the reasons why members of the academic community would or would not be motivated about entrepreneurship. In addition, this thesis examined what it takes to be a health innovation entrepreneur and the definition of an innovative person. The context for the research was the students and graduates of life sciences in Finland. The scientific community SPARK Finland contributed to finding suitable participants for the research that was conducted. The methods used were questionnaires and interviews: the gathered qualitative data was based on the thoughts of 33 participants in total. The findings showed that many of the students and researchers were interested in creating innovations but concerned about the risky nature of it. For example, funding questions were presented and the difficulty to build an appropriate team. Moreover, the general innovation atmosphere in Finland can still be improved as some people might hold back due to the lack of support, despite the educational equality and advanced level of available technologies. The health innovation entrepreneurs shared their personal growth stories and demonstrated the importance of intrinsic motivation. The most discussed obstacle for transforming research into innovations and business was the strict funding criteria of academic research; often commercialization is the way to scale the research findings. However, in the field of life sciences it is a long and expensive journey. Overall, the results suggest that health innovation entrepreneurship requires exceptional dedication but is extremely rewarding in terms of the motivation to benefit society.