At the centre of entrepreneurship there is always a human person

Last week we had a great afternoon in Fiesole, near Florence, talking with José Manuel Leceta, the outgoing Director of European Institute of Innovation & Tecnology that since last August is a visiting fellow at the European University Institute (EUI) Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, whose headquarters are exactly in the wonderful hills surrounding Florence.

The first time we met José Manuel was in November 2013, in Budapest, during the EIT Awards, where a number of successful entrepreneurial start-ups came out of the different EIT’s Knowledge and Innovation Communities were highlighted. During his speech, he underlined the importance of nurturing not just the usual entrepreneurial skills (business plan, idea development, marketing, etc.) in the young people that attended the KICs, but also their entrepreneurial attitudes, paying attention on training also motivation, vision, resilience, uncertainty management, and others.

Carla and I were really excited when we heard those words, because it was exactly what we tought (and we still think) about entrepreneurship and about what is the current way of teaching to aspiring entrepreneurs. There is a psychologycal, behavioural aspect that, at the moment, is completely ignored.

So, during the networking lunch we approached José Manuel to talk with him about our book and to analyze our common vision about entrepreneurship training. And less than a year after, we had the opportunity to meet him again. He read our book and appreciated it and he is still convinced that there is still a lot to do to put in contact ecomics and psychology. One of his central ideas (and he said it during the Madrid TedxTalk, last March) is that at the very centre of everything - innovation, economics, technology - there is still the human person. This is also the thesis of our essay, what a stunning sensation to have such an intense and so similar feeling!

Thank you so much, José Manuel, for your welcome, for your kindness and openness! And many thanks again for discussing with us about several arguments, projects and visions! For Carla and I that has been a great moment of exchange and learning! We hope to see you very soon, and all our best wishes for your job in Florence to maximize the co-operation opportunities between the EIT and the EUI!