Promoting entrepreneurial venturing within science, engineering and technology faculties in higher education: the role of enterprise competitions

Northern Ireland is identified in the United Kingdom (UK) GEM 2005 report as a relatively poor performer, from an entrepreneurial viewpoint, coming ninth out of twelve regions. Just 5% of Northern Ireland's population are likely to start a business, with women only a third as likely as men to do so. As a result of decline of its traditional industries, lack of high-value inward investment, skewed growth in public sector spending and the only recent welcome return to peace after thirty years of social unrest, the region reflects an 'entrepreneurially-weak economic environment' (Sweeny 1987). Notwithstanding the important contribution of service-oriented businesses, the SME sector is relatively small and lacks strength in fields such as science, engineering and technology (SET), areas recognised as essential to creating economic dynamism. Despite a sizeable stock of highly-educated people, particularly in technical subjects, there have been few outlets for their talents. Consequently, there are precious few stories of successful, local, venturing activity or examples of role models/champions to shout about to invigorate a much-needed culture for entrepreneurship. This paper investigates the impact of a higher education initiative targeted at developing entrepreneurial capability and encouraging venturing activity in Northern Ireland.