eWeb: Entrepreneurship Education Resources by Jerome Katz
The Gateway Series served as Entrepreneurship's think tank. From its start in 1987 to its final session in 2013, Saint Louis University's Gateway Series for Entrepreneurship Research promoted advances in scholarship on entrepreneurship and related disciplines. Unique among academic meetings is its approach, called the Gateway Process. Gateway founders Bob Brockhaus and Jerry Katz realized that much of the creative output from academic meetings comes more from the informal discussions in hallways and over dinner tables than in the formal presentations. The goal was to create an environment that maximized that opportunity for informal group discussion and reflection. In the Gateway Process, small to medium sized groups of researchers meet on shared topics for one day. This process has amply demonstrated its ability to produce new insights, connections and research opportunities for the participants.
A general foundation is laid by the keynote speaker. The keynote address starts the meeting and provides a common frame of reference and point of departure. Other than the keynote speaker, no other Gateway participant needs to submit a paper to attend the conference. Those who need a formal role in order to receive institutional support can serve as facilitators or correspondents.
Gateway groups are then self-assigned based on a brainstorming session early in the meeting, where specific topics of interest are identified and categorized. The general theme of the Gateway meeting is given by the Center for Entrepreneurship.
The process within the small groups can vary depending on the mix of people and the approach taken to the topic. Each group is provided with two facilitators. The term is chosen intentionally. They are NOT leaders. Their jobs are (1) to help the group address the topic they have chosen in as efficient a way as possible, and (2) to document the outcomes of the group for the meeting Proceedings to be compiled by the Center. A Proceedings consisting of the keynote speeches and the facilitator reports are emailed and available to all participants after the conference.
Gateway Topics of the Past
1987 - Entrepreneurship Research
1988 - Research Directions in the Firm
1989 - Entrepreneurship and Environment
1990 - Entrepreneurship Education
1991 - Strategic Planning Processes in the Entrepreneurship Firm
1992 - Internationalizing Entrepreneurship
1993 - Family Business Educators Conference
1994 - Entrepreneurship Education: Tots to Teens
1995 - Entrepreneurship and Technology
1996 - International Trade
1997 - Entrepreneurship Centers
1998 - Entrepreneurship Curriculum
1999 - Technology Commercialization as an Entrepreneurial Activity
2000 - Family Business Research
2001 - No Conference
2002 - Women Entrepreneurs
2003 - No Conference
2004 - No Conference
2005 - Assessing Outcomes in Entrepreneurship Education
2006 - Measuring Outcomes in Entrepreneurship Education
2007 - Cross-Campus Entrepreneurship
2008 - Researching Angel Capital
2009 - Made as Well as Found: Researching Entrepreneurship as a Science of the Artificial
2010 - Behave: Specifying, Measuring, and Teaching Entrepreneur Behavior
2011 - Entrepreneurship in China Today and Where Does it Move in the Future
2012 - Technology Commercialization: Have we learned anything?
2013 - Design Thinking for Opportunity Recognition