NEWSLETTER - EDUCATION

Technology Entrepreneurship Class Was A Success

by Dr. Fred L. Fry, Professor of Management
Spring 2003

A new course, Technology Entrepreneurship, was offered on a trial basis in the Fall 2002 semester to see if there was demand for the course and value created. The results are in, and the answers to both questions are yes. Nineteen students took the course which was taught as part of the Entrepreneurship Concentration in the Business Management and Administration Department.

The Technology Entrepreneurship course was offered both to engineering and business students who had an interest in new product development. The key aspect of the course was that the student teams would use real products as their point of analysis. The product ideas came from three sources - Caterpillar's Tech Center, the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research (the USDA Ag Lab), and Bradley's Department of Mechanical Engineering.

The three goals of the class were to teach the students about the product development process, to create an interdisciplinary learning experience for the business and engineering students, and to provide a service for the clients. All the goals were achieved. Even though engineering students approached ideas from an engineering perspective, and the business students looked at things with a business view, the two groups meshed well. Each benefited from the other's perspective.

Perhaps more important, the projects provided a service to the clients. Most of the teams concluded that their products did, indeed, have potential. Getting the products completely to market, however, requires a number of different avenues and was beyond the scope or capabilities of the class. In one of the cases, however, sufficient potential was shown that two of the students on the team were subsequently hired as interns for the client to do an even more in-depth study and analysis of the product. This study should fine- tune the demand estimates as well as determining what start-up costs will be for the product.

The course value was such that the Department of Business Management and Administration agreed to offer the course again in the Fall of 2003. In addition, at least one of the College of Engineering's departments have approved the course as a technical elective.