STEM + E for Entrepreneurship? STEM Education is a Pipeline to Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship is taking the creativity and inspiration involved in being an innovator and sharing the solution with the public. This is often done as a business but it all starts with a problem solving, innovative, creative or disruptive idea.
It’s clear that entrepreneurship skills and STEM education go hand in hand.
The competencies required to succeed in STEM such as creativity, teamwork, problem solving, adaptability and persistence are also key to success as an entrepreneur. Many things don’t work the first time. This in itself inspires creative problem solving, willingness to adapt or pivot, work with team members and the grit or persistence to keep trying. That’s also what makes it fun!
Entrepreneurship is a driving force in our world.
At the heart of every great entrepreneurial venture is the desire to solve a problem. That underlying thinking is what makes STEM so enjoyable for many students. Give students the tools and skills they need to solve a problem and watch them work it out on their own. It has always amazed us how quickly kids come up with ideas to solve an open ended problem. What’s more, their ideas don’t have the baggage of what might not work.
STEM teaches actionable skills to students.
STEM and entrepreneurship require many of the same skills. STEM skills are applicable in a broad range of ventures outside of careers in hard science. After all, STEM education teaches students how to think above all else. An invaluable skill now and in the future.
Part of every entrepreneurial idea’s success is answering the question, how can we build this. What tools, skills, methodologies are required? Do we need something that doesn’t even exist? STEM skills are critical to this build.
Entrepreneurship requires vision, but also requires a firm understanding of practical realities. STEM emphasizes data driven decision making and successful STEM professionals base their decisions on hard facts. The road to entrepreneurial launch brings the practical reality of people, decisions, data, timelines and budgets to the forefront.
Perhaps the most important skill in the STEM + Entrepreneurship overlap is creativity.
Entrepreneurship succeeds with foresight and creativity to imagine solutions to problems that didn’t exist yet or disrupt how we think of a current need. Uber, Lyft, AirBnB, WeWork, Peloton, Casper are all recognized disrupters who make us wonder what we did before they came on the scene. Some even become part of our language. What have you googled today?
STEM Education can be a vehicle for your success as an entrepreneur and the future success of the students you impact. How can we help?