By some measures, Elon Musk has never invented anything. And yet the president of Tesla and SpaceX has inspired a young generation of business and engineering students smitten by his glamorous profile and apparent success.
The question is whether students captivated by the larger-than-life entrepreneur's projects can learn from Musk's method of turning wild ideas into businesses, thereby helping reinvigorate the Canadian and global economies.
There is no question that the billionaire businessman is an object of fascination.
University clubs and associations around the world hold him up as a model, including at Queen's in Kingston, Ont., where Musk began his undergraduate education.
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There were electric cars before
Tesla, batteries before the
Powerwall and the
Gigafactory, solar panels before
Solar City and rocket launches before Musk's private sector space company
SpaceX. The idea of vacuum tube transportation stretches back a century before Musk proposed the Hyperloop as an open-source business venture.
Musk's magic as an innovator and entrepreneur is to make crazy ideas seem like practical business ventures.
"We love those things because they play on our imagination," says Derbyshire.
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Derbyshire says Musk's special talents include looking beyond himself to try to solve global problems, and motivating other smart people.
"The payoff isn't always money," she says, pointing to the altruistic impetus for so many of Musk's visionary schemes. And she says that in the business of innovation, coaxing support from financial backers is an essential part of the job.
"When Tesla was faltering, Elon Musk went back to those people and made those people believe again that a further investment would get that invention over the line," says Derbyshire.
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