In this article, Piero Formica considers how new approaches to the notion of the university exemplify the value of creative ignorance in driving entrepreneurship and promoting a new culture of innovation based on blue sky science and open-mindedness. He takes the examples of the Minerva Schools, the Unreasonable Institute and the Singularity University and illustrates how these developments both connect us to learning cultures of the distant past and reveal the shape of an enterprising future that rejects the norms and embedded constraints of education systems developed in twentieth century.