Crisis, what crisis? The pandemic also brings great business opportunities for startups with innovative ideas, explains professor Vareska van der Vrande in the EURcast. Startups that work on digitization or Virtual Reality can accelerate in this pandemic. "Now might be a great time to start your own business", she states. “The pandemic invites us to be innovative. Especially with the current situation on the job market.”
Being a student often means living on a tight budget. That should not hold you back to start your own business in the opinion of Vareska van de Vrande, Professor of Collaborative Innovation and Business Venturing at Rotterdam School of Management. “As a student you are greatly positioned; you don’t have kids to maintain or a mortgage to pay. If you have a great idea, let nothing hold you back.”
"A crisis can foster innovation. Some of the most successful entrepreneurs excel under uncertainty."
Vareska van de Vrande
Professor at Rotterdam School of Management
Crisis fosters innovation
The media report a lot on bars and shops that suffer from the pandemic, but at the same time bankruptcies are very low. Of course that has do with the government aid, but there is more to it: “A crisis can foster innovation. Some of the most successful entrepreneurs excel under uncertainty.” Especially now with the new way of working new businesses that focus on digitization like meeting technology or Virtual Reality are very successful.
Erasmus Enterprise
The research of Van de Vrande focuses on how large corporates deal with innovation and how they collaborate with startups. Also, she is academic lead of Erasmus Enterprise, the startup incubator of the university. They can you develop your ideas and help you to become aware of what it takes to be an entrepreneur. When the campus will reopen entrepreneurs can elaborate their ideas and collaborate on a new space on campus.
- Researcher
- More information
- Related content
