Academic Entrepreneurship for Social Innovation in Taiwan: The Cases of the OurCityLove Platform and the Forest App

Abstract

This study attempts to extend the definition of social innovation within the context of academic entrepreneurship. We consider how academic entrepreneurs can undertake commercial activities, and which ones, and how these activities contribute to the contexts of social innovation. We explore two cases that are derived from two premier universities in Taiwan in terms of research and academic entrepreneurship: OurCityLove from National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) and the Forest app from National Tsing Hua University (NTHU). The two cases show how social enterprises achieved the financial ability to expand their businesses and create the desired social values. While the first case, derived from NCTU, focused on providing useful information on social spaces, and services for the elderly, parents traveling with babies and those with disabilities (and also creating job opportunities for the latter), the other from NTHU created an app to influence those addicted to playing with their smartphones. The cases illustrate how the two universities capitalised on their technological competencies and academic programmes to support graduates and researchers in venturing into social entrepreneurship.

Keywords

Academic entrepreneurship social innovation university spin-off financial sustainability business model

Introduction

The role played by universities in economic development has been the subject of much interest among many innovation scholars. They have observed the evolving role of universities, from teaching the tertiary education programme and performing basic research, to advancing scientific knowledge and contributing to fields involving the industrial and commercialisation spheres of an innovation system (Wong, Ho, & Singh, 2011). Scholars, both students and academics from universities, have sought to leverage their knowledge and competencies through the performance of research activities related to industry through university–industry links. There are many studies in the innovation literature specifying the components (both physical infrastructure and strategic approaches) that have led to the university knowledge transfer mechanism being functional and achieving successful commercialisation of targeted research findings (see all chapters in Hu, 2009; Wong, 2011).

As we examine teaching and research, what we observe is that there are universities that embrace an additional mission: appropriating their knowledge base and network to provide social innovation. Social innovation is often associated with efforts to deliver socio-economic welfare or fulfil social needs. It seeks to foster ‘inclusion and wellbeing’ through an empowerment process, via either income distribution or skills transfer, to allow the recipients (the poor or those often excluded from the mainstream) to attain a reasonable amount of control over their economic environment and capacity to secure their basic well-being (Groot & Dankbaar, 2014; Have & Rubalcaba, 2016; Wong, 2016). The scope of social innovation can also be extended to incorporate those innovations that deliver solutions to energy and environmental issues (Groot & Dankbaar, 2014). Indeed, a functional innovation system that supported both productive activities and social innovation would see an emerging economy’s growth co-evolve alongside deliveries of public goods (Nelson & Jenkins, 2006) and social welfare (such as livelihood opportunities, education and health).

The literature informs us of the potential of universities to enable social innovation. As those from the academic sectors are capable of delivering social innovation, this article attempts to explore, through case studies, which of the types of innovation they deliver are the ones that create social value, and how that social value is being diffused to make sufficient impact. We report how the academic entrepreneurs have developed their businesses and achieved the financial ability to create the desired social value. In addition, we explore the type of university academic curriculum and training that can lead academics or graduates to venture into social entrepreneurship. The article concludes with a discussion on the possible role that a university incubator can play in social innovation.

Literature Review

It seems common for many social entrepreneurs to be recognised as such on the basis of their declared intention of creating a social impact through their business model. On the one hand, they create business entities to make profits to sustain their businesses and so be financially independent of donations or public funding. On the other hand, they undertake social entrepreneurship in order to bring positive changes to society or in welfare. Groot and Dankbaar (2014, p. 20) contributed to the distinction between ‘normal’ and social entrepreneurship, by highlighting its major features:

An enterprise that is financially viable, but has no extraordinary social impact cannot be called a social enterprise; an enterprise that aims to achieve an extraordinary social impact, but fails to survive without permanent financial support, stops being an enterprise.

They argued that ‘social entrepreneurs have a double bottom line in which social value appears next to financial value’ (2014, p. 19), and proposed a 2 × 2 matrix as a guide to understanding the types of venture social entrepreneurs undertake (see Figure 1). The social impacts are defined in relation to particular behaviours and institutions. As a result, the outcomes of the innovation process can increase the welfare of the society (people) and the environment (planet).

Figure 1

Source: Groot and Dankbaar (2014, p. 21).

Many public universities in Asia have long been recognised as important research entities that perform both research and commercialisation activities (Bae & Park, 2011; Liu, Chen, & Chiou, 2011). Some public universities, particularly those focusing on engineering sciences, play the role of the knowledge intermediary, translating findings from basic research into industrial applications, and transferring technological knowledge to other actors in a national innovation system. They create incubation facilities in order to develop entrepreneurial routines that academics and graduates can use to perform commercialisation activities. These groups perform start-ups at the university incubator to increase their access to research funding, facilities, knowledge and a skilled workforce. Some would also use the credibility a research university has attained as leverage to commercialise certain science-based products or services. While most academics and graduates venture into knowledge-oriented low capital required by certain types of businesses (such as technical consultancy, research services, software, and licensing intellectual property, IP), others enter into joint ventures with the private sector to perform high-tech manufacturing activities, such as Phison Electronics from the National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) and LOF SOLAR from the National Tsing Hua University (NTHU), or build state-of-the-art infrastructures (Albert & Gaynor, 2006; Bernasconi, 2006; Bernasconi, Dibiaggio, & Ferrary, 2006; Druilhe & Garnsey, 2006; Harris, 2006; Moreau, 2006).

While universities commit to performing research and commercialisation for industrial applications, they also recognise the importance of connecting their activities to social values. Many universities have institutionalised a routine that supports those academics and students who invest in social innovation. Matheson (2008) maintains that universities can take a leading role as actors enabling social innovation. This is because a university’s academics and graduates have the ability to frame social issues within contexts and guides to address the issues in question. They have the credibility to perform social research via rigorous scientific methods, and with human workforces who can partner with those from non-profit organisations (NPO) or other communities to perform outreach programmes or contribute solutions to social and environmental problems. There are, indeed, community engagement programmes included as part of the training at some universities, to allow students to engage in experiential learning and research, and contribute to social innovation in their communities. Universities do collaborate with social communities through bridges, such as student placements at NPOs, joint efforts in social projects, and by appointing community leaders to participate in the university decision-making process.

In addition, the academics and graduates can get support from or join efforts with funding agencies, the private sector and policy makers to address certain problems in order to raise awareness of the issues in question. Those from the private sector may be particularly interested in such partnerships, as they may help them to develop effective and responsive design and delivery of goods and services. These partnerships may also enhance the reputation and credibility of the enterprise through its delivery of socially responsive products and services (Nelson & Jenkins, 2006). It should also be noted that there are many social entrepreneurs who are used to being involved in academic research and are capable of delivering services to meet the needs of the private sector. They carry with them both academic and industrial experience, through which they can configure a strong corporate partnership for social innovation. One typical example of successful partnership, discussed by Matheson (2008), is the establishment and delivery of open source software by many universities for educational purposes, developed for the disadvantaged groups in society. This was initiated by different groups of professionals, including volunteer educators, university researchers and those from private enterprises.

This study attempts to cover the two case studies, remaining within a line of reasoning defined by the range of activities performed by social entrepreneurs. In addition, we hope to extend the definition of social innovation within the context of academic entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurs undertake commercial activities to achieve socially desired outcomes. These activities can come either in the form of non-profit-oriented organisations, where the profits are used to fund socially oriented activities, or profit-oriented ones, in which the businesses are structured to achieve both profits and social goals (Urban, 2010). The chosen cases reflect the attempts of academic social entrepreneurs to provide innovative solutions for people in need (quadrant (A) of Figure 1). The cases provide insights into what kinds of innovation an academic social entrepreneur can provide, and how he/she can attain financial sustainability so as to fund both the business and social activities.

Narrative Guide and Method

This study analyses two cases from two universities of Taiwan: one derived from the incubation process of NTHU and the other derived from that of NCTU. These two universities are renowned for their research impact and commercialisation in terms of technology licensing and university spin-offs, which are scattered within the Hsinchu Science Park area (Mathews & Hu, 2007). They have produced high-quality graduates capable of building industrial structures that are effective for the provision of semiconductor products and Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-related services (Wong, Hu, & Shiu, 2015). While there are many studies reporting the contributions of academic social entrepreneurs at an institutional level (e.g., Nelson, 1996, pp. 189–230; Rogers, 1983), studies reporting how academic entrepreneurs contribute to social innovation have been found to be lacking.

The cases in this article inform us about how these two universities capitalise on their technological competencies and academic programmes to support graduates and academics with entering into social entrepreneurship. The selected cases focus on entrepreneurship targeting behavioural change that can contribute to the welfare of people in need and the society as a whole (see Figure 2). It is common to read cases of academic entrepreneurial activities that either require extensive knowledge or expertise to deliver solutions,¹ or have extensive resources that are mobilised for product development and novel infrastructure building. Our cases, however, reflect activities that only require a reasonable amount of resources and relevant knowledge, and so allow university students to participate in social entrepreneurship (see Figure 3). Our elaboration of these cases can inform readers about how the entrepreneurs acquire relevant knowledge or engage with those who have specialised knowledge and build partnerships that are essential to sustaining their business operations. The first case is an academic start-up utilising a cloud-based platform to provide useful information to disabled people about friendly spaces in the cities of Taiwan. The second sought to provide to smartphone addicts—often compulsively checking their phones every few minutes—assistance with staying focused on their daily work. The elaboration of the cases will be based on two important aspects of social enterprise, highlighted by Groot and Dankbaar (2014, p. 20): ‘financial viability of the enterprise in generating income’ and ‘innovation that led to societal impact’. A number of interviews were conducted with the founders to gain an understanding of the contexts of each case. The following two sections elaborate the cases in detail.

Figure 2

Source: Groot and Dankbaar (2014, p. 21).

Figure 3

Source: Adapted from Druilhe and Garnsey (2003, p. 9).

The Case of NCTU: OurCityLove

Background

The social enterprise OurCityLove (see http://www.ourcitylove.org/) is an academic start-up with the aim of providing accessibility to information on and services in cities through a cloud-based platform. As one of the very few social enterprises in Taiwan providing a product and a service through mobile devices, OurCityLove created the world’s first cloud-based platform providing survey tools for rating friendly environments, and giving detailed reviews of friendly spaces and services for the elderly, parents traveling with babies, and those with disabilities. OurCityLove offers a wide variety of apps and covers a range of services, such as friendly restaurants, drivers and the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) (Taipei Metro). Their ‘Friendly Restaurants Taipei’ app was the world’s first survey application specifically designed for disabled people and those with impaired mobility; it has won over forty awards in international and domestic technology innovation competitions. The case study is based on interviews with the founder Dr Chong-Wey Lin, with whom we held two rounds of in-depth discussions during April–July 2016. The average interview duration was 2 hours.

OurCityLove was founded by a group of university lecturers and students at NCTU. Located beside Hsinchu Science Park, NCTU is a leading university in Taiwan, famous for its prestigious research and quality of teaching. Its key founder, Dr Lin, was formerly a full-time professor in the Department of Communication & Technology at NCTU, and has been actively involved in diverse social activities undertaken by local charity groups, such as providing a volunteer consulting service, and judging various social competitions and campaigns. During his long-term interaction and engagement with the local charity groups and their activities, Dr Lin observed a range of difficulties and challenges that the charity groups were struggling with, and began to consider whether there was an alternative way to help these vulnerable social groups in a sustainable way.

In 2012, Dr Lin hosted an innovation course at NCTU, which encouraged students to combine both service learning and problem-based learning by solving real-life social problems. One of the projects he and his students devised was to collect information on disabled spaces for wheelchair users in restaurants, and share a detailed review on a restaurant review website. The project also cooperated with a social charity group to train some disabled people to identify disabled spaces and provide detailed records of the restaurants in the city. All of the data collected and the review comments were shared publicly online.

Due to the rapid development of mobile technology at that time, it was later decided that, instead of the original purpose of constructing a review website, a mobile app would be preferable. As a result, the ‘Friendly Restaurants Taipei’ app was designed by Dr Lin and his students, providing detailed reviews of restaurants with disabled spaces, friendly facilities and friendly service straight to users’ mobile phones.

In 2014, Dr Lin and his founding team (most of whom were university students/graduates) established OurCityLove as an official social enterprise, focusing on app development related to friendly environments and services for disabled people. The ‘Friendly Restaurants Taipei’ app was the first official app launched by OurCityLove. It became very popular (with approximately 500,000 downloads through the app store), was voted the best app of the year by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, was named one of the top 100 social innovations by Executive Yuan, and won many other domestic and international awards. In January 2015, OurCityLove received funding from the National Development Fund of Executive Yuan (the official government financing investment/venture capital firm), and became the very first social enterprise in Taiwan to receive official government investment.

The Innovation

In social organisations, innovation ideas often begin from a particular individual or community’s problems and passions (Mulgan, Tucker, Ali, & Sanders, 2007). The main innovation of OurCityLove is its cloud-based platform (app) and training programme that connect different stakeholders (such as disabled people, restaurants and the government) in order to achieve its social mission of ‘creating a reliable information platform, which creates an inclusive, convenient and friendly environment for people to live in now and in the future’. OurCityLove not only provides technical support by authorising its technology to be used by its business partners, but also sends its well-trained professional consultants (mainly disabled people) to support the development of friendly environments for its customers and business partners.

The ‘Friendly Restaurants Taipei’ app was the first app launched by OurCityLove, and the world’s first app specifically designed to allow disabled people to rate a restaurant’s environment and service. OurCityLove first trains its surveyors (mainly disabled people, and full-time and part-time employees of OurCityLove), before sending them to different restaurants to experience the dining environment. The restaurants are rated by the surveyors based on the convenience and availability of disability facilities and services, such as restaurant entrances, braille menus, service, elevators, toilets, parking spaces, and wi-fi and charge point information. The surveyors upload their feedback to the platform using OurCityLove’s cloud computing and mobile technology. The rating and feedback includes text, photos and video clips, which make it the only app to provide food, service and accessibility information on a single platform, thus allowing users with mobility impairment to locate accessible restaurants within ten seconds.

After the success of its first app, OurCityLove started to collaborate with local governments (e.g., Taipei and Hsinchu) to use its technology to achieve its social mission. The ‘Friendly MRT’ app was developed, with the aim of supporting those who need barrier-free access (such as the elderly, parents with small children, travellers with heavy luggage, and people with injuries or other mobility impairments) to take the Taipei MRT easily and conveniently. OurCityLove cooperated with the Taipei City Government to develop the app, which covers the 103 stations distributed across the five MRT lines in Taipei. As with the ‘Friendly Restaurants Taipei’ app, the ratings were given by people with mobility impairment, who were recruited and trained as consultants by OurCityLove. This app can automatically locate the nearest MRT station, providing detailed accessibility-friendly service information, such as MRT station and facilities maps, accessible lifts (including maintenance information), information on toilets, entrances, ramps, charge points, breast-feeding rooms, consultation services, scene photos, and other detailed notes of caution provided by its surveyors.

As a result of these successful innovations, the ‘Hsinchu Friendly Pediatric’ app was subsequently launched in cooperation with the Hsinchu County Health Department. This app provides detailed information for parents who need to take their children to see a doctor in the city. The database on the app includes local and national Health Department open data on health insurance information, which is continuously supported by the five regional hospitals, 697 clinics, other related pediatrics and the Pediatrician Association. All of these bodies co-sponsored this innovative, convenient service in Hsinchu City, also providing information about emergency doctors, day-to-day doctors and those nearby, alongside medical expertise, which enables parents to instantly find the right pediatric information.

Furthermore, the team at OurCityLove has also designed an app called ‘Friendly Breast-feeding’, which locates the nearest nursing room for the convenience of all nursing mothers. The app includes photos of breast-feeding rooms, information on the equipment available (water, warm milk, diapers, diaper-changing facilities and charge points), contact details and a GPS function that leads the user directly to the location. This app also provides support in the form of various instructional videos on lactation problems, information on support groups and medical institutions, and an online community for users.

Through cooperation with the public and private sectors (Chunghwa Telecom, ASUS, Samsung), OurCityLove shares and promotes its social mission, which is to improve and develop the accessibility-friendly environment and services, and to establish a set of norms and standards for friendly cities. Dr Lin and his founding team also believe that disabled people are the best specialists to explore and examine the facilities and services that different agents provide. Therefore, they have successfully designed the apps to facilitate job creation for disabled people, believing that these real-life specialists should be co-creators of the solutions that identify and target their needs. OurCityLove provides professional training to them so that they may access and evaluate the friendly facilities and services provided by different venues and agents.

To date, OurCityLove has designed and released thirteen apps to promote friendly facilities and services, and all the apps are free to download so that the information may be shared with those social groups in need. OurCityLove has successfully used its cloud-computing technology and its innovative business model to connect different stakeholders in order to achieve its social mission and social impact. Following its success in Taiwan, OurCityLove has also promoted such technology and services abroad. By collaborating with foreign companies, OurCityLove not only authorises use of its cloud-based technology to these foreign cities, but also sends its experienced disabled surveyors to them to help train local disabled people to also act as qualified surveyors. Since 2016, ‘Friendly Restaurant’ apps have been launched in Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Manila.

Financial Sustainability

It is noted that, in business, a significant proportion of funding for innovation comes from governments (Mulgan et al., 2007), and this is more typical for social enterprises that exist as hybrid organisations combining commercial and philanthropic elements (Dees, 1998). In terms of the financial sustainability of OurCityLove, initially, government funding provided the enterprise with its main income stream. However, having realised that this funding would not be a sustainable income source, OurCityLove later started to collaborate with restaurants. Since Taiwan is an aging society, resulting in increased demand for friendly facilities and services, there are an increasing number of restaurants willing to pay for these professional consultants to improve their facilities and services for the elderly and customers with restricted mobility. OurCityLove provides services of recruiting and training disabled people to become professional consultants, to support restaurants and other agents in improving their disabled spaces and friendly services. In recent years, more and more restaurants have signed up to the annual membership fee of 6,000 New Taiwan Dollars (NTD) in order to be reviewed and licensed as friendly restaurants by OurCityLove. By 2015, over 1,000 restaurants had been reviewed in the ‘Friendly Restaurants Taipei’ app, with over 160 restaurants paying membership fees so as to be reviewed annually.

In 2014, with an earnings per share (EPS) of 2.8, the revenue of OurCityLove was around 1.2 million NTD. As a typical social enterprise, 50 per cent of the total revenue is reinvested into future projects and donated to charity groups supporting disabled people in different cities in Taiwan. In 2015, OurCityLove achieved an EPS of 3.9 and since 2015, in order to maintain financial transparency, its financial reports have been officially audited by KPMG.

Discussion

The success of OurCityLove acts as a perfect example of the combination of flipped classroom and social innovation produced on university campuses, with a joint team effort between teacher and students. As soon as a creative app is designed, combining the novel idea with a practical reaction to social demand can immediately enable an ideal start for a business. The origins and business model of OurCityLove combine the efficiency, innovation and resources of a traditional for-profit firm, with the passion, values and mission of a not-for-profit organisation. In this way, it has become a typical social enterprise that achieves social objectives through business ventures (Battiliana, Lee, Walker, & Dorsey, 2012). According to Dr Lin:

Every app we developed and every project we carried out [has] all [been] for the achievement of our social mission, which is to promote barrier-free environments and further improve the social status of disadvantaged people. At the same time, our products are unique and competitive in the marketplace. So far our profit is still very impressive.

Indeed, OurCityLove has successfully achieved a synthesised approach, with a good balance between its social and business objectives.

It should be noted that the founder and CEO of OurCityLove, Dr Lin, has played a critical role in the development of the enterprise. His unique background as a university scholar in communication technology, long-term engagement with local charity groups and their activities, personal life experience, attention to social trends and social demands, as well as great patience and passion in leading students to solve real social problems, have significantly contributed to the success of OurCityLove. During the first year of OurCityLove, he was still a full-time professor at NCTU and also working as a volunteer leader to support the development of the social enterprise. Due to the fast development of OurCityLove, there has been increasing demand for his participation and guidance as an official leader. Therefore, in 2015, Dr Lin quit his university faculty position and became the full-time CEO of OurCityLove.

The people involved in social innovation are those who have an idea (either a product, service, or model) for meeting an unfulfilled need (Groot & Dankbaar, 2014). The success of OurCityLove also depends on the recognition of social demand (the idea), clear market segmentation (niche market focusing on friendly environments and service), improvement of products and services in conjunction with different stakeholder groups (such as different government agents, business corporations as partners and customers, and charity groups supporting disabled people), and the ability to achieve legitimacy in helping to solve one of the demands of city life, entailing finding friendly space and services for people with impaired mobility. The experience of OurCityLove supports the arguments of the resource-based view (RBV) that legitimacy acts as both an important resource and growth momentum for a new venture, and that the resources acquired and leveraged from a university (NCTU in the case of OurCityLove) act as additional aids.

It is suggested that the greater the university’s capacity to create connections with local communities, profit and not-for-profit organisations, and public institutions, the greater is its ability to make a difference (Matheson, 2008). In this case, the academic background of Dr Lin as a university lecturer, his personal life experience and involvement in social charity campaigns that demonstrated a high sensitivity to social demand, as well as his technology and knowledge background, and long-term experience with different stakeholder groups (university department, government agents, charity groups, and college students) enabled him to be a successful social entrepreneur. His ability to identify market segmentation, design competitive products, set the company’s strategy, gain stakeholders’ support, and keep the balance of the social enterprise’s hybrid identity (combing both social mission and business function) demonstrates his expertise. Moreover, the intensive alumni networks and entrepreneurial culture at NCTU also provided great support, in providing business networks and consultancy to help meet the problems and challenges encountered in the operation of the business. With the vision of ‘creating a hub of accessibility information around the world’, currently OurCityLove already covers nine cities domestically in Taiwan, as well as internationally in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and the Philippines. As a social enterprise aiming to promote friendly environments to the general public, Dr Lin and his team aim to expand their services from restaurants to hotels and eventually tourism as a whole, starting with Taiwan and expanding into Southeast Asia and then into Europe and the US in the near future.

The Case of NTHU: The Forest App

Background

The Forest app (http://www.forestapp.cc/) is an academic start-up that originally aimed at providing a solution to a common social problem: smartphone addiction. Forest was ranked as the No. 1 best-selling app in Taiwan in 2015, selected as one of The best new apps in the Apple store in the same year, and also featured as one of the amazing apps in a 2016 Apple TV commercial. At the time of writing, Forest remains on the list of the top 100 apps in the Apple store, and receives hundreds of fee-paying downloads from all over the world every day. We investigated this case by interviewing the two founders, holding deep discussions with them several times during March–August 2016. Each interview lasted at least 2 hours.

Clair T. Y. Zheng and Bill S. K. Bi are the graduate students who founded the business while studying in the Department of Information Engineering at NTHU, Taiwan, in 2014. NTHU is located beside Hsinchu Science Park, in the heart of Taiwan’s ICT industry. It has developed close ties with the area and nurtured, and supplied to the industry, numerous high-quality engineers and entrepreneurs. NTHU is renowned for its distinguished research performance in the sciences and is the home to many world-class researchers in Taiwan. With the high-quality education provided, and strict graduation requirements set by the university, NTHU’s students’ academic performance is widely and highly appreciated, and many of its alumni play important roles in Taiwan’s various technology-intensive industries. In accessing the abundant resources provided by NTHU, the two young students learnt not only the fundamental techniques of programming, but also the necessary knowledge to form a start-up, from the many entrepreneurial courses and extracurricular activities available. In fact, Clair and Bill only started learning coding and programming techniques in their first college year at NTHU, and in their sophomore year developed a game app. Although this was not developed enough to access the market successfully, due to their lack of business and market knowledge at the time, it demonstrates the ambition and capabilities they had from an early stage.

Clair and Bill witnessed at first hand the problem of mobile phone addiction that caused many people (including themselves) to miss out on many important social bonds, such as time talking to friends or family, and even study or work opportunities. As a result, even in their sophomore year, Clair and Bill had started thinking about how they could provide a solution to this problem. Despite occasionally discussing the idea, they did not have an opportunity to put it into practice until taking a course on ‘Apps and entrepreneurship’ in 2013. This course was designed to equip students with the necessary knowledge to start a new business by utilising smartphone applications. The lecturer encouraged the students to explore and identify problems in society, and seek a possible solution by using their specialised skills in an app. This kind of social entrepreneurship perfectly fitted the core ideas of Clair and Bill, and it reflects how university entrepreneurship, if applying relevant knowledge, does not necessarily require considerable resources to change behaviours and create social benefits as a whole (Druilhe & Garnsey, 2003).

Another feature of this course is that industrial and venture capital experts are invited to act as mentors, to assist students with refining their product designs and business plans. The final evaluation on this course is to implement a practical project by initiating a new business, involving generating ideas, codifying apps, preparing marketing plans, and launching the apps in the marketplace. Compared to their earlier experience with game app building, Clair and Bill were by then equipped with more comprehensive technical skills, alongside business knowledge, and so had a better opportunity to realise their phone-addiction solution by, not only developing an app, but also testing the market response by uploading it to the Apple store. This became their very first version of the Forest app. Since Forest is still in its early growth stage, Clair and Bill are the only two full-time employees and so focus on the core competencies and business strategies, while outsourcing the art and design, online payment system, and customer service aspects to partners.

The Innovation

The smartphone is an innovative product that has brought a great deal of convenience to people’s daily lives. However, there are a growing number of people falling into compulsive use of smartphones; for example, they frequently check their smartphone for any new messages received, regardless of the necessity to do so, and this behaviour can decrease their concentration on studies or work. Some people even feel anxious when they cannot access their smartphone, and this addiction is affecting lives and has become a social problem. The core idea of Forest was thus to help people stay away from their smartphones for a period of time when they needed to concentrate on studying, working, talking to friends, were at family gatherings, or involved in other important activities. In sum, the Forest app aims to provide an effective solution to the problem of ‘head-down’ smartphone addiction.

Accordingly, Forest is designed to trigger a process of planting virtual trees in the smartphone when the user switches their smartphone to stand-by mode. The longer the amount of time a smartphone is idle for, the more bountifully the trees grow. If the user cannot help themself and turns on their phone before having allowed enough time for a tree to grow, the tree(s) will die immediately on the screen. This explicit image of the user having killed the small growing trees indicates that they either have low self-control or have not left the smartphone alone for long enough, meaning they have failed to concentrate on their current work. In contrast, if the user is able to stay away from their phone for a set period of time (ranging from 5 to 120 minutes), the app will display a healthy growing tree or a healthy forest, depending on the length of time the user wishes to stay away from their phone. Forest targets students and SOHO (small office and home office) workers as potential users. Those who have subscribed to the app to date are mainly from Taiwan, China, and Japan, but since the beginning of 2016, the number of users from the US and Europe has also increased. The annual revenue of Forest has grown rapidly from 1.5 million NTD (approximately US$300,000) in 2015 to 2 million NTD (about US$600,000) in August 2016 (when the last interview was conducted), with app functionality having been greatly improved based on customers’ instant feedback and comments.

Financial Sustainability

Compared to other business sectors that require significant funding capital and distribution channels, the internet-based business requires little capital and few physical assets. Starting such businesses does not require the founders to commit huge financial resources. However, when they reach the next business phase of expanding into a larger scope, and looking at co-creation in relation to social innovation (as addressed below), Clair and Bill will need to commit more financial resources and obtain appropriate financial support from venture capital funds or through crowd funding.

Discussion

The Forest app may be a perfect example of the kind of business venture young entrepreneurs born in the internet-based era would pursue. As soon as the basic coding and programming, technical skills and knowledge have been acquired, such entrepreneurs can combine a novel idea with practical action to select and enter a niche market and meet social demand. This can lead to a new business venture. As founders of an internet-based business, Clair and Bill realised that customer feedback and comments would be critical. Therefore, they embedded instant customer feedback into the system, and set up a policy to respond to customer demands and feedback within 24 hours. According to the founders, the current success is mostly based on the recognition of social demand (the idea), clear market segmentation (niche market), improving product/service based on the user’s point of view (co-creation), and gaining legitimacy through helping solve a difficulty of urban life. This corresponds with the arguments made by many RBV scholars that legitimacy is not only an important resource, but also gives growth momentum to a new venture (Zimmerman & Zeitz, 2002). For sustainable growth, co-creation based on the specific demands of users in a niche market is essential in the social and open innovation system (Füller, 2010; Sang, Olson, & Trimi, 2012).

In addition, the resources and courses offered by NTHU have been important here. Apart from the core courses required by the computer science discipline, Clair and Bill took business-related courses such as financial analysis and e-commerce marketing that were offered on the campus, at the NTHU incubation centres and in the technology transfer offices. The success of Forest is attributable to the training received by its founders through a series of academic project competitions on campus, and through the National Young Start-up Campaign. This series of activities greatly helped Clair and Bill to build and shape their professional capabilities and also helped them to continuously refine the product prototype and clarify the business blueprint. The intensive alumni networks and friendly entrepreneurial culture at NTHU also helped them to expand their business networks and receive advice on certain problems and challenges they faced in their business operations. Indeed, the evolving process of Forest demonstrates the importance of seeking, identifying, mobilising, and integrating resources and partnerships in entrepreneurship, and the university provided all of these elements that supported Forest’s evolution (Matheson, 2008).

Inspired by Taiwan’s social enterprise platforms, such as Code for Tomorrow and G0v.tw (equivalent to the US’s ‘Social Coding 4 Good (SC4G)’ aiming at utilising coding for a better world’),² the core value of Forest is aimed at the co-creation of legitimacy, in which users desire to contribute something good to the earth and a better world. Compared to many other ‘for a better world’ projects, Forest not only provides a solution to a social problem by helping users stay away from mobile phones for a necessary period of time. Focusing on this value, the next move for Forest is to transform the virtual plantation of trees into a reality, so that the users (as well as Forest) can put their goodwill into practice. To achieve this, Forest has started to collaborate with NPOs to plant real trees. Depending on the number of virtual trees accumulated by users (20 million minutes had already been accumulated by August 2016), Forest will donate a percentage of its revenues to the project and the location of planting will be chosen by users. It is expected that, as the business grows in the near future, the virtual Forest developed in Taiwan will create just as many real forests around the world.

Policy Implications

The observations from the two cases provide useful policy and managerial implications for universities aspiring to adopt similar programmes or projects. The cases highlight the importance of (a) identifying social needs (opportunity awareness), (b) providing necessary training courses and activities to enable the practices of resource acquisition, leverage, and integration (resource mobility), and (c) creating entrepreneurial mechanisms to facilitate network interaction and shape business models (the market entrepreneurial culture) in the academic world. By building on the arguments of Glasmeier and Christopherson (2015, p. 11), who discuss the need for creating a sustainable society, the two cases in this study demonstrate that the role played by universities in promoting innovation and entrepreneurship has to be emphasised:

[we] have to be willing and able to get in, roll up our sleeves and discover how new applications and technologies can be used to genuinely improve the quality [and sustainability] of life. Otherwise, we can’t complain we were locked out.

With entrepreneurship and technology commercialisation being promoted worldwide, policy makers and managerial decision makers should reconsider the potential role a university can play, while the nature of academic entrepreneurship should be guided and fostered in such a way that it leads the search for solutions to the world’s increasing social and economic problems. From the cases, it can be noted that a conducive environment for gaining technology knowledge in a university is important, as it will lead an economy to be based on knowledge. In addition, what we observed from the cases was that entrepreneurship courses emerged to stimulate students’ interest in solving social problems. It is noteworthy that there were mentors (from both academia and industry) who devoted their entrepreneurial knowledge and technical skills to guide the students, directly or indirectly, to capitalise on certain technologies so as to solve social problems. The entrepreneurs in the two cases had managed to construct a workable model that, on the one hand sustained their businesses and generated income, and on the other hand contributed to social well-being. Complementary resources such as alumni networks may also be essential in providing financial support and helping to diffuse product information to potential users. Table 1 summarises our observations on the two cases.

Table 1

Summary of Observations from the Selected Cases

	OurCityLove	Forest App
The context of innovation	• ‘Friendly Restaurants’ app • Allows disabled people to rate a restaurant’s environment and service • ‘Friendly MRT’ app to support people who need barrier-free access to the Taipei Metro • ‘Friendly Breast-feeding’ locates the nearest nursing room for the convenience of nursing mothers	• App to help compulsive users of smartphones
Social value	• Provide accessible information and platforms through which users may rate friendly environments and review friendly spaces and services for the elderly, parents with babies, and those with disabilities. • Creates job opportunities for disabled people who are at a disadvantage in the job market. They receive training on providing professional evaluations of the facilities and services.	• Influences those who are anxious to check their phones • Keeps them away from using their phone, so that they can build social ties with family and friends and concentrate on important work
Catalyst for/complementary resources spurring academic entrepreneurship	• Academic programme that led lecturers and students to collect information about disabled spaces for wheelchair users in restaurants • The programme was offered in cooperation with social charity groups • The founder is an expert in ICT and passionate about contributing • Alumni networks and entrepreneurial culture at NCTU	• Entrepreneurship courses and extracurricular activities that stimulate interest in venturing solutions to specific problems • The founders acquired skills in coding and programming • Alumni networks and entrepreneurial culture
Business model	• Restaurants and service sector pay for professional consultation • Membership fee • 50% of the total revenue reinvested in future projects and donations to charity groups • Cooperation with stakeholders such as charity groups and government agencies	• Targeting compulsive smartphone users who get distracted (easily) from focusing on their work (studying, working in SOHOs)
Implications for facilitation	• Academic programmes for social innovation/entrepreneurship • Appropriate social capital (network and culture) • Mechanism to connect entrepreneurs with stakeholders	• Specific training and skills transfer • Programmes that train students to identify problems and potential solutions • Appropriate social capital

Source: Authors’ observations.

Conclusion

This article provides an insight into how and what academic entrepreneurs can contribute to the context of social innovation in order to encourage behavioural change for people in need and society as a whole. We have observed that the social innovations made by the selected cases were derived from a passion to pursue solutions to identified societal problems, while also utilising ICT skills and entrepreneurial capabilities to mobilise both human and capital resources so as to construct niches. These niches define the social value in these cases and helped them to achieve the socially desired outcomes.

The social entrepreneurs in the two cases have utilised their expertise and skills to create ICT niches and have since attained financial sustainability allowing them to commercialise and expand their businesses by defining and refining the social value they provide to society. Such processes for building legitimacy have helped the entrepreneurs to capitalise on externalities and attract funds to support their activities. The programmes and projects discussed in these cases can act as a useful guide for universities that are eager to create a platform for entrepreneurial social innovation.

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: We would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the University of Malaya under the Equitable Society Research Cluster (ESRC) research grants RP022B-15SBS.

Notes

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