The ATTRACT.EMDOI project aims to investigate the impact of entrepreneurial mindsets, team diversity, and open innovation processes on the commercialization success of breakthrough technologies. It builds on ATTRACT phase 1, seeking to assess whether phase 2 projects manage to overcome “the valley of death” by moving closer to commercial viability and application.
This study focuses on how these factors—particularly entrepreneurial thinking, the diversity of research teams in terms of gender, geography, and professional background; and the openness of innovation ecosystems—contribute to achieving commercialization success for high-tech research outputs. To explore these dimensions, ATTRACT.EMDOI employs a mixed-methods approach that includes analyzing the compositions of ATTRACT phase 2 projects, conducting interviews, and developing case studies. These efforts are adjusted toward understanding the archetypical compositions of effective research teams and innovation ecosystems.
Discover more about it through this interview with two members of the research team: Marielle Feenstra, Postdoctoral researcher at TU Delft and Gernot Pruschak, Postdoctoral researcher at Bern University of Applied Sciences.
What is your personal and career journey so far?
Gernot Pruschak: My career as a scientist started as a PhD student at the RWTH Aachen University for investigating ethics and science and open science. Since then, working at the University of Vienna and joining in 2021 the Bern University of Applied Sciences have continued to work in the fields of open science and ethics and science, especially investigating how we can raise societal impact.
Marielle Feenstra: I did my master’s and my PhD at the Technical University of Twente. My background is in public administration and international relations. Between my master’s and my PhD, I worked for 15 years as a policy advisor within several municipalities in the Netherlands, but also at international organizations like the European Union. The focus has been on inclusion, social inclusion, diversity, gender diversity, and European policy implementation.
What is the idea of the project? And how did it come about?
The idea of ATTRACT-EMDOI came about in 2019 after ATTRACT phase 1. Hereby, the question arose of how to measure the socioeconomic and societal impact of these research projects. This was a factor that major contributed to the investigation that we now have in ATTRACT phase 2, where we want to show an entrepreneurial mindset, diversity and open innovation enabling innovation success.
Which partners are involved and how did you find them?
In ATTRACT-EMDOI we involve two institutions as main research institutions: the Bern University of Applied Sciences and the TU Delft. We specifically reached out to the TU Delft because of their great knowledge of diversity and responsible research and innovation, so meaning that not only how team diversity influences the outcomes, but actually how also understanding the diversity of human beings can help us in achieving innovation success. For that, the TU Delft in the form of Claudia Werker and Marielle Feenstra provide valuable partners in the project.
What can be the impact of your study on ATTRACT?
The impact of the EMDOI study and especially the emphasis on diversity can have an impact on the ATTRACT project teams by making them more aware of the societal impacts of their innovations and how the inclusion of the diversity of human beings can either advance the technological innovation, the business success, and societal impact.
How do you envision participating in this project will contribute to your personal and professional development?
Gernot Pruschak: My professional development from this ATTRACT research project is mainly the fact that I moved my focus from basic science to applied science. In that regard, by studying the commercialization of innovation projects, I’ll highlight my abilities to not only theoretically conceptualize how basic research works, but really get in dive into the driving factors of achieving innovation success.
Marielle Feenstra: Within ATTRACT-EMDOI I’m learning new skills, new theories and new models, shifting my perspective from public administration and policy towards more business-oriented and management studies. I also learned how to collaborate with a diversity of teams with different educational backgrounds, different methodologies and different theories. What I really enjoy about ATTRACT is how we learn as socioeconomic studies projects together and what the interaction is within the research development and innovation teams. So, I hope to enhance both my academic network as well as my personal development projects.
For more information
Visit the ATTRACT.EMDOI project site.
