Creating High Potential Entrepreneurs: The Waterloo Story

Although numerous studies have focused on spinoffs started by university faculty, there has been growing evidence that these ventures are limited both in terms of numbers and returns. Research has pointed towards the entrepreneurial activities of students and graduates as playing a much more important role in generating local economic activity and growth than faculty and staff. This paper explores the role cooperative education plays in student spinoff success. We propose that the cooperative experience will have an imprinting effect on an entrepreneur and their venture. We test this hypothesis on a sample of 314 relationships between the patent portfolios of alumni ventures and the patent portfolios of their co-op employers or control group firms, and find a positive effect. We find a positive relationship between the patent portfolio of a student's cooperative education employer and the technological distance of their venture. Our findings have important implications and contributions to research and practice in the area of imprinting and opportunity recognition, and university policy.