How, or Should, SE (Denmark) Foster Entrepreneurship?

The 2010 Harvard Business Review (HBR) article made the term "entrepreneurship ecosystem" prominent for the first time, reflecting this dynamic and largely self-regulating system. The SE (formerly, Southern Energy) case enriches this dialog on engaging larger corporations in fostering entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship ecosystems and helps the discussion transcend polemic prescription and overly simplistic stereotypes of what larger corporations should or should not do. The case also highlights the potential benefits for larger corporations by engaging with entrepreneurial ventures. The case describes SE's development from a small local utility located on the far western coastline of Denmark to an increasingly global player in electricity distribution and sales, telecommunications, including broad band internet, cable TV, renewable energy, and related fields. Although admittedly lacking a coherent strategy, SE has launched several entrepreneurial programs. The most prominent and visible activity is the Next Step Challenge, a new-as of the time of the case-global startup competition initially targeted to startup ventures in fields closely related to energy and telecommunications. Eight ventures from Denmark, the United States, Chile, and Serbia participated in the first three-month long program, which took place in Esbjerg, Denmark. The case outlines the program details, and participants' views of the benefits and drawbacks of the program. SE is committed to, and has budgeted for, three iterations of the Next Step Challenge. Whereas most discussions of how corporations may programmatically engage entrepreneurship would focus entirely on this startup competition, the case also describes two additional programs with later stage entrepreneurial ventures. One is SE Blue Equity, a DKK 640 million, about $120 million, private equity fund managed by SE and three large Danish corporations and funds.

• Entrepreneurship