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This chapter deals with uncovering the entrepreneurial opportunity development (henceforward cited as OD) process by integrating two schools of thought that have been found to be decisive in explaining OD: the human capital and the social capital approaches. By means of systematic, rule-guided qualitative content analysis, nine in-depth, problem-centred, semi-structured interviews were examined. The subjects being studied consisted of theoretically sampled individuals who were in the process of further developing a raw idea. A constructive process of methodological controlled analysis with inductive category development was applied, summarized in a coding agenda. Results reveal that OD processes differ significantly depending on the starting point of the intended new venture: an identified opportunity (idea-driven) or the decision to become self-employed (self-employment-driven). Further, the study identifies a well-directed enhancement of human and social capital in the OD process. The chapter discusses the propositions derived, and provides some future directions for this line of research.

Although technology entrepreneurship has recently received increased attention, the link between entrepreneurship education and the transfer and commercialization of technology has not been explored sufficiently so far. In this chapter the authors apply an explorative approach to investigate two cases of science and technology entrepreneurship education (STEE) by analysing documents and interviews regarding similarities and differences of the two educational programmes. Their findings suggest that open and problem-based pedagogical approaches are more applied in STEE-related courses compared to regular engineering courses. Additionally, STEE benefits greatly from taking place in a practical context with access to support structures that assist in developing technical and business aspects of start-ups. The findings hold implications for research, educational programmes, policy makers and entrepreneurs.