Introducing students to research-based technologies can positively impact their learning and future entrepreneurial efforts in technology commercialisation. This paper investigates how students in entrepreneurship education learn when evaluating the commercial potential of research-based technologies. We perform an in-depth qualitative study of five student teams in a venture creation programme during a week-long educational activity where the objective was to evaluate the commercial potential of research-based technologies developed at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN). The present paper expands upon previous conceptions of an authentic, self-guided, and experiential learning process. It contributes to an understanding of students’ learning through imitation as an example of how students in entrepreneurship education can become sufficiently positioned to progressively learn, develop, and contribute in the process of commercialising research-based technologies.
Do et al. (Mon,) studied this question.