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!
