In a nutshell
Being able to spot entrepreneurial opportunities isn’t just luck or instinct — it’s a skill that can (and should) be taught, with the right mix of knowledge, alertness, and creativity, reinforced through hands-on learning.
Some people just see things that others don’t. While one student walks past an empty storefront without a second thought, another sees the perfect spot for a new café. One dismisses an everyday frustration as an annoyance, while another sees it as the next big business idea. Why is this? What sets them apart?
Opportunity identification — the ability to spot and act on entrepreneurial possibilities — is often seen as an innate talent; either you have the instinct, or you don’t. But research suggests otherwise. In this newly published literature review, the authors examine decades of studies to uncover exactly why some students excel at identifying opportunities and, more importantly, how educators can help others develop this skill.
The study analyses 44 empirical papers published between 2000 and 2022 and finds three key factors that determine whether students successfully identify opportunities: prior knowledge, entrepreneurial alertness, and creativity. Prior knowledge — whether from studies, work experience, or life in general — gives students a foundation to spot gaps in the market. Entrepreneurial alertness is the ability to connect dots others might miss, noticing shifts in trends, customer behaviour, or technology. Creativity, unsurprisingly, plays a huge role — because seeing an opportunity often means imagining something that doesn’t yet exist.
Publication Date: 8 January 2025
Authors: Mohammadreza Farrokhnia, Omid Noroozi, Yvette Baggen, Thomas Lans, Harm Biemans, and Luke Pittaway
Institutions: Department of Learning, Data Analytics, and Technology, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands; Education and Learning Sciences Group, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands; School of Business and Communication, HAN University of Applied Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; College of Business, Ohio University, Athens, OH, USA
Study Type: Systematic literature review
Sample Size: 44 empirical studies (out of 945 peer-reviewed articles) dating from 2000 to 2022
Research Focus: Identifying the key factors that influence university students’ ability to identify entrepreneurial opportunities and how entrepreneurship education can effectively foster this skill.
Research Methodology: Systematic review of 44 empirical studies using a theory-driven teaching model framework to assess how opportunity identification (OI) is taught and developed in higher education.
Main Findings: Opportunity identification isn’t an innate talent but a skill that can be nurtured through education. Three key factors contribute to strong OI skills: prior knowledge, entrepreneurial alertness, and creativity. Additionally, OI happens in three stages — triggering, idea generation, and idea evaluation — meaning entrepreneurship education should align with this process to be effective.
Citation: Farrokhnia, M., Noroozi, O., Baggen, Y., Lans, T., Biemans, H., & Pittaway, L. (2025). Fostering University Students’ Entrepreneurial Opportunity Identification Capability: A Systematic Literature Review. Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy, 0(0). Link
But knowing that these factors are important isn’t quite enough, as they don’t specify how to actually teach opportunity identification. The study therefore looked at how opportunity identification happens, and the authors identified three distinct stages: triggering, idea generation, and idea evaluation. In other words, students first need to be exposed to the right stimuli (real-world problems, industry insights, emerging trends); then, they need the space and tools to generate ideas, whether through brainstorming, collaboration, or structured exercises; finally, they need to learn how to evaluate which ideas are viable — a step often overlooked in entrepreneurship education, where excitement about an idea can overshadow its real-world feasibility.
So, opportunity identification isn’t something students either ‘have’ or ‘don’t have’ — it’s a skill that can be intentionally developed, but for that to happen, entrepreneurship education needs to be designed with purpose. Instead of relying on abstract theories and passive learning, courses should actively guide students through the process: exposing them to real-world problems, giving them space to generate ideas, and helping them critically assess which ones have real potential.
To make this work, the study emphasises the importance of constructive alignment — where teaching methods, learning activities, and assessments all reinforce opportunity identification. This means replacing outdated, lecture-heavy approaches with hands-on experiences, where students engage with real or simulated entrepreneurial challenges. When done right, this shifts opportunity identification from a lucky talent to a structured skill, so that future entrepreneurship students see opportunities where others see nothing at all.
