Educational background of startups: university degree as an advantage?
Startups that win in competitions have an above-average number of people with doctorates on their founding team, according to a study by the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland. So is startup success dependent on educational background?
The attention and importance of academic entrepreneurship, i.e. the founding of startups and spin-offs from universities, has increased significantly in recent years.
increased. Both worldwide and in Switzerland, there are more and more universities that actively promote start-ups and spin-offs from their universities. But what is happening at universities of applied sciences in this regard?
Educational background of award-winning startups often university-based
The most promising, innovative or simply best startups in Switzerland are regularly selected in numerous competitions. Often enough, these are precisely companies that have grown out of a university field. The state innovation agency Innosuisse as well as all of Switzerland's universities offer a whole range of opportunities, both inside and outside the classroom, for this prestigious segment of the startup scene.
The School of Business FHNW has now examined the educational background of 336 winners of three major startup competitions in Switzerland in the years 2012 - 2020. This showed that in 57 % of the startups studied, at least one person has a PhD or doctorate. Of the total of 649 founders examined, 47% have a PhD, compared to only 4% who have a Bachelor's degree as their highest qualification.
Benefit instead of prestige
At first glance, therefore, the universities of applied sciences seem to be at a disadvantage compared to the universities. This is because they do not offer their own doctoral programs and train far fewer master's students, both in absolute numbers and as a percentage. In fact, however, UAS also open up opportunities for targeted innovation promotion, which is designed less for prestige and more for economic benefit. For example, UASs can focus on startups that do not drive the technology itself, but rather integrate existing technologies into promising business models and build a professional market presence. Such startups may win fewer awards and receive less media exposure. But they create numerous new jobs and contribute to value creation in Switzerland.
Source: University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland FHNW
