Patricia González: "One person can be an entrepreneur alone, but surrounding and nurturing oneself with a good team is the best thing to do"
April 16th. World Entrepreneurship Day. A day where the protagonists are creativity, innovation, courage and knowledge. Success, but also failure. Launching a business from scratch can be as rewarding as it is terrifying. And many fall by the wayside. However, in the right hands, this journey is less arduous. One of those hands is Patricia González Alonso.
The Transfer and Entrepreneurship technician at Campus Terra belongs to USC's Valorization, Transfer and Entrepreneurship Area, an office in charge of listening to students' and researchers' ideas to analyze the viability of their projects and guide them in their launch into the market. During this journey, they offer support in key tasks such as defining the business plan or searching for funding.
The work of these professionals is critical to strengthening the connection and establishing synergies between the academic and business worlds. These two areas tend to be too far apart at times, but when they come into contact, they have abysmal potential.
The area where Patricia González Alonso works represents Campus Terra's solid effort to promote entrepreneurship both inside and outside the classroom. This effort translates into the implementation of a multitude of programs and initiatives aimed at giving more visibility to a professional outlet that, in most cases, is not considered the first option.
As she explains in this talk, her goal is to change this.
What is the main mission of the Transfer Offices?
In the past, Research Results Transfer Offices were known as OTRIs. At the University of Santiago de Compostela, the Research Management Area, the Scientific Promotion and Strategy Area, and the Valorization, Transfer and Entrepreneurship Area are within the OTRI, where we work.
Our goal is to transfer and multiply the social and economic impact of knowledge (Know-how) and the results generated within the university and promote entrepreneurship within the university community. We do this through identifying, protecting, and valorizing research results and their transfer to the market through licensing to companies or creating knowledge-based companies (KBE). In addition, we promote entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial culture within the university and research groups.
What profiles can benefit from these activities?
We mainly focus on researchers who want to start a company within the university: spin-offs or knowledge-based companies. We also focus on university students studying here who want to learn about the world of entrepreneurship or who, with a team, want to start a business project.
What kind of specific help can people who come to this area receive?
There is help of all kinds. We have programs for generating entrepreneurial ideas and hackathons, which we do at the Lugo and Santiago campuses. It is called Terra Creative Jam, and we are already in the third edition. These are creativity and innovation events for students who want to learn about entrepreneurship and generate ideas over the weekend, something closely linked to brainstorming, getting to know each other, and working as a team.
Once they have the ideas, we have two entrepreneurship programs. One is the university's ARGOS program, where you can participate with your ideas or USC research results. It has been running for several years and aims to raise awareness among students and researchers so that, through multidisciplinary teamwork, viable business projects are developed, and the creation of companies in the university environment is promoted.
We believe that multidisciplinarity in the team is very important, and not everyone belongs to the same area of study. For example, students from ADE or Business and Technology, together with students from EPSE, develop a joint business project.
We have another entrepreneurship program, the Explorer program. Banco Santander promotes it through the Santander Emprendimiento International Center, in which the USC and the Xunta de Galicia have collaborated for many years. We have won several prizes at the national level in Santiago, and in Lugo, we were among the ten finalist projects at the national and international levels.
It is a 12-week program in which students contribute ideas, individually or in teams, and are trained in entrepreneurship to develop these ideas into business projects. The program is not only aimed at university students but is open to people from all over the province of Lugo and surrounding areas who are interested in participating. However, these are pre-incubation programs and initiation programs.
Apart from that, we have just launched other programs for students interested in entrepreneurship, such as the ÍCARUS program. This program, which is currently open for a new period of participation, rewards USC students from any area of knowledge taught at USC who have developed TFG, TFM or thesis with a focus on application, transfer and impact on society.
Also, to promote entrepreneurship among the university community and complement these programs, we have the Campus of Entrepreneurship and the competitions of ideas and projects.
If I have a clear project idea, in addition to these programs, can you help me with specific needs that may arise to facilitate the project's landing in the market?
Yes, we support both researchers and students. Suppose the researchers have potentially transferable results to the market and want to create a spin-off. In that case, we sit down with them from the beginning and analyze the technology or knowledge they have developed to identify what can be transferable.
For the project's landing in the market, we incorporate figures such as the interim manager, who helps them develop the business project and the business plan, search for potential customers, and ensure scalability. The spin-off is composed of researchers who typically do not have much knowledge in the management field, so we always put a managerial profile in the project. Once the company is set up, the idea is that he or she can be part of the promoter team.
On the other hand, many students who want to start projects ask us what entrepreneurship is or how to set up a company. We see what idea they have, and if it is green, we try to channel it with programs. We are coordinators and mentors; we work with them on a day-to-day basis in the development of the projects.
When we see that the project already has a business plan and viability and is mature, we move from the pre-incubation stage to the exit and incubation stage. In this case, the support would be to obtain financing to launch the project. We also often channel them through other incubation and acceleration programs (Viagalicia, BFFOOD, BFAERO, etc), where they are supported with an injection of funding and advice to get them off the ground.
What is your role in terms of financing? Do managers offer advice on how to obtain lines of aid, or is there more direct participation?
In the spin-offs, USC is a partner and enters with a percentage of the capital. We support them directly from the start with advice, capital and the search for financing. Normally, after five years, they are stable, and we can leave.
How do you decide when and how to invest?
We conduct an internal audit to evaluate the projects arising from the university's knowledge that meet the requirements to go to the Governing Council. This internal body approves the participation in the spin-off and the transfer of this knowledge to the company for its exploitation.
Besides, we have contacts with venture capital funds that invest in these companies. Such as Unirisco, which invests in university projects, and other capital funds that generally work with the university and with whom we try to have meetings to present university projects. Also, in Lugo, we have LugoTransforma, a capital fund of the City Council, where we try to make USC projects benefit from these funds.
Indeed, you have promoted more than one renowned project.
Some are well known, and others are better known among the university community. Some that came out of research results from the Lugo Campus are 3edata, TasteLab, and iBoneLab. Innolact also came out in its day, but the university did not participate in the companies at that time.
Among those promoted by students within the entrepreneurship programs are Innogando, which is now quite well known for digitizing farms; LegalMit or LexDigo, lawyers and entrepreneurs from Lugo who developed a SaaS for lawyers; and Aobá Upcycling, which also in Lugo gives unused garments a second life.
Are there many projects being developed today? Is participation usually stable, or is it more linked to the market situation?
We set up XuvenLab Ciencia last year and Agroecology Innovation Advisore this year. Researchers have the idea of creating a spin-off, but perhaps they are averse to launching one. We try to channel this and accompany those groups very close to markets that have technological developments with a clear transfer to society.
On the other hand, not many university students always have entrepreneurial ideas. Here, we have complications and need much more knowledge and promotion of entrepreneurial culture, innovation and creativity in all academic stages.
We have a problem because we try to promote entrepreneurship, but students are usually recommended to take competitive examinations or work for a company. Entrepreneurship is not usually seen as a safe career path. Setting up a business on their own is not usually the first choice, and perhaps the wrong thinking and the fear of failure are negative. They like the business field, have ideas, and want to participate, but few are mature enough to do so.
There is a lack of support from the family and academic environment, and self-employment and entrepreneurship should be seen as a way to build a professional career.
Finally, what does a project have to have for them to see the potential? Is there any common denominator for it to succeed?
For a project to have a place in the market, it must have two critical and relevant points. It has to have innovative potential. It doesn't have to be groundbreaking, but it does have to cover an unmet niche need. And it has to be promoted by a team. One person can be an entrepreneur alone, but surrounding and nurturing oneself with a good team is the best thing to do.
These are two of the things that are most valued in entrepreneurship and by potential investors: the team is well configured, the project has innovative potential and scalability, and there is a market for the product or project.
From the Campus, we collaborate with other agents of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, such as the Foundation of the Confederation of Entrepreneurs of Lugo or the nursery of the City Council of Lugo, Cei Nodus. The projects that leave the Campus are housed in the business incubators of both entities. Also, from the Campus, we collaborate with accelerators mentioned above, such as BFAero, BFFood, Viagalicia, etc.