A note on versions:The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the repository url above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription.For more information, please contact eprints@nottingham.ac.uk 1 Employment activities and experiences of adults with high-functioning autism and Asperger's disorder Abstract There is limited large-scale empirical research into the working lives of adults who have an autism spectrum disorder with no co-occurring intellectual disability. Drawing on data from a national survey, this report describes the employment activities and experiences of 130 adults with Asperger's Disorder (AD) and high functioning autism (HFA) in Australia. Outcome measures include current occupation; occupational skill level and alignment with educational attainment; type of job contract; hours of work; support received to find work; support received in the workplace; and positive and negative experiences of employment. The findings confirm and expand upon existing evidence that adults with AD and HFA, despite their capacity and willingness to work, face significant disadvantages in the labour market and a lack of understanding and support in employment settings.

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The conversion of University research into economic growth is vital for the future of many nations. In order to improve the efficiency of this transfer we have looked at the effectiveness of tech transfer activity in the US. Our research indicates that Universities that are not located in a region supportive of entrepreneurs should modify their mission and methods for technology transfer. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, the authors develop an overview of the problem and recommend three new strategies for effective technology transfer including the application of regional dynamic knowledge networks.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARYEntrepreneurship skills are vital to the future of the US economy and its ability to support continual wealth creation. Traditional educational methods do not teach such skills; indeed they may hinder them. The initiative described creates a new way to provide a valuable entrepreneurial learning experience to a large number of students at all levels. This can only be achieved by developing a "scalable" model to reduce teacher load in course creation and management, and student interaction. This paper describes a pilot experiment at State University, the first of a four stage plan to make entrepreneurship education available to the majority of students in the US.To date 135 students developed entrepreneurial skills at State University using a unique problem based learning (PBL) approach with all course materials and grading managed on-line. The results of the pilot indicate that a problem based, on-line approach to learn entrepreneurship is viable with significant upside potential. Surprisingly, it was just as difficult for the faculty to get out of the traditional "teaching mode" as it was for the students to get out of the "passive learning" mode.Nevertheless, the students' final projects and presentations suggest that the learning experience succeeded and students developed a realistic understanding of what it takes to be an entrepreneur.Further, the experience resulted in a plan of improvements to the method, three of them key. First, given the natural ambiguity of PBL to develop entrepreneurial skills, it is imperative that structural aspects of the course are as unambiguous as possible. Second, the grading and support structure of the course need to reward student self-sufficiency. Third, in-class activities must be structured so that teams are forced to be fully prepared for each session so that facilitators are not tempted to regress to "chalk and talk" style. 1: INTRODUCTIONThis paper reports on a pilot, cross-college course that is the first step in a multi-year program designed to expand entrepreneurship learning for all interested students in the State University Page 11.115.2 2 system and then to educational units throughout the USA. (2003)(2004), the pilot BA/ENGR497G course was developed and delivered. The key learning objective of this course was to have students acquire entrepreneurial knowledge and skills. The learning process focused around problems that introduced key concepts of entrepreneurship using custom material with web-accessible and other rich media content. The students worked in diverse teams (no more than two members from one major) of three to six students using on-line course management software (ANGEL). The challenge to each team:develop a new venture concept that could grow to $50M in annual revenue by year 5. The course deliverables were an executable plan, an elevator pitch, and a formal investor presentation. The students learned about and then implemented solutions to entrepreneurial issues including bootstrapping, opportunity identification, intellectual ...