Gateway Entrepreneurship Research Conference

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