Over the course of three semesters, Technology Innovation Fellows will earn at least 12 credits from:
A fundamentals of entrepreneurship course (1-3 credits):
- This foundational course will ensure all Fellows thoroughly understand the entrepreneurship principles to be applied throughout the course. Options include NBA 5070 Entrepreneurship for Engineers and Scientists, NBA 5640 Designing New Ventures, or EMBA equivalent.
Startup development projects and workshop series (6 credits):
- Participants form small teams to focus on a single innovation for which they will create a business plan, assess their target market, and test their business models in real-world situations. As a team, they engage in a series of intensive workshops and deliver a final presentation to potential investors, partners, and advisory board.
- The six workshops directly prepare the teams to launch startups. Guest speakers from the industry will present at each workshop and a faculty or advisory panel will review the work accomplished by the teams between each workshop.
The workshop topics include:
Discovery
Participants will learn about customer discovery and identify opportunities for “disruption” in the life sciences. Participants will pitch ideas for startup projects to each other and form teams.
Iteration
Participants explore the potential success of their business ideas in heavily regulated industries, learn techniques for prioritizing ideas and concepts, discover different revenue models and licensing methods, and engage in mentor “speed dating.”
Testing
Participants learn more about regulatory challenges, plan for the product development phases of their innovation, dive into IP protection best practices, explore the pros and cons of partnerships, and see how agile development works in digital health.
Scaling
Participants focus on manufacturing and operations —including maintaining quality standards. They also explore marketing, sales, and distribution best practices and the pros and cons of various fundraising methods. They also begin to prepare for their final pitches.
Final Pitches
Participants take all they have learned and pitch their projects to an audience of potential investors, partners, and an advisory panel from the industry.
Elective courses (3-5 credits):
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The electives must be selected from a list of approved relevant entrepreneurship, innovation, engineering, and science courses. The elective courses are meant to push Fellows outside of their comfort zone and enable a strong, cross-disciplinary foundation. Examples would include NBA 5645 – Dilemmas in Founding New Ventures and NBA 6650 – The Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation.