Are you eager to contribute to Brainport entrepreneurial ecosystem? And are you interested in designing better support mechanisms to nascent entrepreneurs from the Eindhoven University of Technology? Then we are looking for you to support our team as a Postdoc for 1 year in a research project in collaboration with The Gate.

The Brainport region is in every respect the absolute number 1 deep-tech region in the world and its ecosystem one of the main drivers of successful entrepreneurship (Romme, 2022). Many of the startups in the Brainport region stem from academic research institutions and have the potential to drive substantial economic growth and societal impact. To realize and enhance this potential, the knowledge institutions in the Brainport region (i.e. Tu/e, Fontys and Summa College) along with BOM and Brainport Eindhoven have founded The Gate. The Gate serves as a single entry point for deep-tech startups and aims to boost the quantity and quality of academic spin-offs and student startups by leveraging the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Brainport region.

Over the past year the number of business cases supported by The Gate has vastly grown, from over 60 in 2022 to 200 in 2023. As a result, The Gate seeks to enhance its efficiency in serving the needs of the nascent founders of these future spin-offs or student startups. Also, when considering the perspective of these nascent entrepreneurs, there is room for improvement. Initial talks with some founders indicate that they struggle to find their way on the current website, not knowing where to begin and what to focus on. This is nicely captured by the following quote:

'I would like to see a roadmap that helps me understand what to do first and who can help me with that' (Nascent entrepreneur, Eng.D program 2023).

Consequently, this project aims to set up a digital platform that assists nascent founders in their entrepreneurial journey by making available hands-on experiences, knowledge, and templates, which the founders can access, digest and apply at their own pace, independent of time and location. Such a platform would also create more transparency about the entrepreneurial journey leading to more realistic expectations and better prepared entrepreneurs. From the perspective of the business developers and Entrepreneurs-in-Residence at The Gate, the platform could reduce the workload and throughput time in handling the requests of the nascent founders.

Project execution and outcomes

To ensure that the developed platform addresses the needs and preferences of the different stakeholders involved (i.e. primarily the nascent entrepreneurs, the business developers and entrepreneurs-in-residence of The Gate and the web developers at TU/e), the project will be executed according to the following three phases: (1) research, (2) portal development and (3) launch, test and reiterate. The first phase is intended to develop a proper understanding of the current situation, and the hurdles and limitations nascent entrepreneurs and business developers face when working on their business cases. Moreover, in this phase, a pretest will be launched to measure the current situation in a quantitative way (i.e. survey measuring satisfaction, transparency, clarity, throughput time, etc.). Subsequently, the gathered input will be used to initiate the second phase of portal development. Besides the input of the nascent entrepreneurs and business developers, we also seek to leverage the best practices of other universities and incubators. In the final stage the portal will be launched, and a post-test will be administered to track the impact of the improved portal. This will eventually result in a set of recommendations for future development and maintenance. A more detailed project plan can be found in appendix A.

As a successful applicant, you will (1) manage the project, (2) co-design relevant solutions to improve the support of nascent entrepreneurs with your research team, and (3) interact closely with relevant stakeholders. You will apply various research methods to generate valuable insigths into the described topic and guide decision-making.

You will be located in the Innovation, Technology Entrepreneurship & Marketing (ITEM) group and will work closely with dr. Annelies Bobelyn, and The Gate as partner. In this setting, you will benefit from the strong industry relationships. These will facilitate interviews and access to stakeholders and data and help ensure the research's practical relevance.

• You have a Ph.D. degree in Entrepreneurship, Innovation Management, or a related area.
• You have a strong and proven background in qualitative research methods.
• You are highly motivated, disciplined and rigorous when collecting and analyzing data.
• You have extensive knowledge of -  or is willing to familiarize with - scientific research and practice on technology commercialization and tech transfer, entrepreneurial behavior, entrepreneurial decision making, funding/investment decisions and related topics.
• You have knowledge of - or is willing to familiarize with - web development.
• You have a strong entrepreneurial spirit and excellent problem solving skills.
• You are a fast learner, autonomous, creative, collaborative and quality-oriented.
• You have excellent communication skills and are able to work efficiently and effectively in a team.
• You are able to communicate with both researchers and entrepreneurs and can serve as a bridge between the academic world and industry.
• You have a feel for both practice-oriented research within universities of applied sciences and the business sector.
• You have excellent and proven project management and leadership skills.
• You are proactive and have a collaborative attitude.
• You have affinity and experience with stakeholder involvement and are interested in collaborating with key stakeholders in the field and international research partners.
• You have excellent verbal and written communication skills, including English proficiency and an ability to collaborate in an international setting.

Starting date as soon as possible.

A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university, in an interdisciplinary setting and within an international network. You will work on a beautiful, green campus within walking distance of the central train station. In addition, we offer you:

• Full-time employment for one year.
• Salary in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, scale 10 (min. €4.020 max. €5,278).
• A year-end bonus of 8.3% and annual vacation pay of 8%.
• High-quality training programs on general skills, didactics and topics related to research and valorization.
• An excellent technical infrastructure, on-campus children's day care and sports facilities.
• Partially paid parental leave and an allowance for commuting, working from home and internet costs.
• A TU/e Postdoc Association that helps you to build a stronger and broader academic and personal network, and offers tailored support, training and workshops.
• A Staff Immigration Team is available for international candidates, as are a tax compensation scheme (the 30% facility) and a compensation for moving expenses.