Two popular afternoon workshops on Friday included theTeaching Case Exchange Workshop: Integrating Cultural, Social and Economic Contexts into Writing Cases andResearch Opportunities with the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED): An Introduction. The Teaching Case Exchange workshop, first presented at the 2010 USASBE Conference in Nashville, TN USA, is a joint initiative of USASBE and ECSB that presents a case writing model integrating an American and European perspective. The workshop highlighted the key approaches to be taken when writing case studies and how they can be used to maximize the learning experience for students. The workshop is an integration of successful models that have already been presented at USASBE conferences and in Europe as part of the RENT (ECSB) Conferences. A unique aspect of this workshop is its focus specifically on the relevance of 'cultural context' in writing and teaching with cases in entrepreneurship. Please visit http://www.icsb.org/know_dialog.asp for more information as well as a database of case studies used in Jeff’s and Tom’s classrooms. Dr. Paul Reynolds, Co-Principal Investigator of PSED I and II, was the chair of yesterday’s PSED workshop and provided detailed descriptions of business creation in the United States as seen in the PSED cohorts. Both cohorts are representative samples of U.S. nascent entrepreneurs and serve as the only sources of longitudinal information on national samples of business creation in the United States. The PSED I sample is based on screening completed in 1998-2000 and the PSED II sample was identified in 2005-2006; there have been three annual follow-up interviews with both cohorts. These public data sets are available online atwww.psed.isr.umich.edu. Dr. Reynolds addressed the many factors and processes associated with implementation of a profitable new business and interacted with participants with engaging dialog concerning how to get involved. The two PSED data sets provide extensive opportunities for analysis and allow scholars to develop their own work. The workshop also touched on research protocol, description of the data sets, a review the issues critical for the analysis, and discussion of some preliminary findings. The PSED workshop at ICSB 2010 is a preview of an upcoming event at the George Washington University in Washington, DC from October 14-16, 2010 titled, Global Entrepreneurship: The Latest Research on Business Creation. This event and symposium is designed for scholars analyzing longitudinal data sets on business creation as well as scholars designing and implementing longitudinal studies of business creation to learn from the experiences of those who have already implemented such panel studies. Submit a working paper no later than 01 September 2010 to icsb@gwu.edu.

The theme for this year’s ICSB World Conference, “Entrepreneurship: Bridging Global Boundaries”, speaks to the importance of bringing together like minded individuals to foster growth in the industry of small business and entrepreneurship. As a key driver of entrepreneurship and growth, innovation is a hot topic that was discussed on Friday during the luncheon keynote address and parallel workshop sessions. Mr. Doug Hall, professional inventor, researcher, author, and Founder of Eureka Ranch, first introduced the topic during his luncheon keynote address. Through his address, Mr. Hall described the key success factors for creating smart choices for growth. His talk centered on the notion that innovation is a systematic approach following three steps: create, communicate, and commercialize. The key points that were brought out during the presentation included the importance of communicating your true benefits and uniqueness to your customers as well as the positive impact that creating an innovative culture has on an organization. Mr. Hall also outlined 10 of his key research areas of interest so that he could connect with delegates completing research in similar areas. The topic continued into the first afternoon parallel track sessions with a workshop titled “Open Innovation” facilitated by Oyvin Kyvik from ESCI-Universitat Pmpeu Fabra. This workshop explored the idea of open innovation as a method of growth by encouraging information sharing with other SMEs on new innovations. Exploring the definition of open innovation and its implications, the workshop challenged audience members to consider whether the topic being presented was open innovation or entrepreneurship. Key discussions not only confirmed the benefits of open innovation, but also brought forth questions of whether or not open innovation is a goal that SMEs should work towards, or a means to achieve a goal. Luca Iandoli from the University of Naples Federico II also discussed how to utilize Web 2.0 Tools to wire open innovation within SMEs.