BioEngineering

Technology Entrepreneurship
Certificate Program (TEC)

Gary S. Hansen, Michael Song and Patrick S. Stayton
Directors

 

Vision and Goals

The Pacific Northwest is one of the nation's leading entrepreneurial communities. Seattle in particular is recognized as a hotspot for new technology-based startups, as well as for large, technology-based corporate leaders such as Microsoft and Immunex. The University of Washington also contributes significantly to the creation of new businesses in the state. This unique business environment is generating thousands of new jobs each year. There is thus a strong need and opportunity for the University of Washington to better prepare its students for the challenges of high risk, technology-based business careers, by creating a national model for academic programs that jointly prepare business and technology students for entrepreneurial and technology-based careers.

We have developed such a graduate education model called the Technology Entrepreneurship Certificate (TEC) Program. This certificate program is a collaboration between the School of Business and the Program in Entrepreneurship and Innovation (PEI), the College of Engineering, and the School of Medicine, and arises from the belief that both the business and science/engineering graduate programs would benefit from the interaction of MBA students with Masters/PhD students in a project-oriented technology commercialization setting. This bringing together of the Business School and Engineering/Medicine has led us to develop a formal graduate certificate program.

A key design element of the TEC Program is the inclusion of both MBA students and technology students in the classroom and project-oriented settings, which will ensure interactions from different perspectives and provide valuable experience in communication at the interface of business and technology development. This program that will provide students with opportunities to initiate intrapreneurial or entrepreneurial career pathways. In addition, this model program will allow students the flexibility to pursue technology development careers in such venues such as venture financing, intellectual property assessment, technology consulting, etc.

The TEC Program is designed to be incorporated into science and engineering PhD programs (and Masters programs), and a unique aspect of the TEC Program is the emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship, rather than on product management (although it will include aspects of the latter). There is also a widely recognized need to provide MBA students with a better introduction to the technology research and development (R&D) process, and relatedly to introduce MBA students to the process of working with the people who develop new technologies. The TEC Program will provide a project-oriented setting for MBA students to learn about the process of R&D and to learn to work efficiently with scientists and engineers.

TEC has been endorsed by the Dean of the College of Engineering, the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education in the School of Medicine, and the Dean of the School of Business. The proposal was approved unanimously by the Faculty Council by the University of Washington's Board of Regents.

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Program Description

Goals, Objectives, and Student Learning Outcomes

The program goal is to train science and engineering graduate students for careers in entrepreneurial settings or for intrapreneural positions in existing industry settings. Our objectives are that students learn to:

  1. Identify how entrepreneurs and investors create, find and assess commercializable technologies.
  2. Evaluate, determine and compare how entrepreneurs and investors create and build value with new technologies.
  3. Identify and determine the necessary resources for new ventures and/or new program development.
  4. Identify how entrepreneurs build and develop a management team and attract critical resources to a new venture.
  5. Identify the criteria that entrepreneurs use to evaluate opportunities for commercialization.
  6. Analyze marketing objectives, competition, external factors, company strengths and weaknesses, consumer analysis and marketing options available in the context of new ventures or product start-ups.
  7. Identify options for protecting intellectual property, avoiding infringement claims and developing intellectual property in a way that avoids a loss of ownership.
  8. Identify the way that existing companies exploit opportunities for new product development.
  9. Work with a team of peers to create a capstone business plan to commercialize real technology.

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TEC Program Curriculum

The Technology Entrepreneurship Certificate curriculum covers the basics of new enterprise creation as well as the specifics of marketing, finance, operations, and law as they relate to the start-up or rapid-growth firm. The curriculum begins with a bridge elective, the Foundations of Entrepreneurship (BPOL 509), and then offers two tracks: entrepreneurship (new venture creation) and corporate entrepreneurship (new business development within an existing firm). In both tracks, the emphasis is on technology development, and classroom activities are integrated with hands-on experience in technology labs.

To earn a Technology Entrepreneurship Certificate, students must apply to the program by March 14, filling out an application, completing an essay, and attaching a resume. TEC students need 18 credits of coursework, which will be spread over two years (at a minimum).

Track 1: Entrepreneurship

Core Courses

* = Restricted

Track 2: Corporate Entrepreneurship

Core Courses

* = Restricted

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Capstone Project

The TEC students will be able to choose between "Creating a Company" (4 units Winter or Spring Quarter) and "Executing Strategy and Managing a Growing Company" (4 units Spring Quarter) as a capstone project. Students can also compete in the Business Plan Competition. The event begins with an afternoon trade fair, where the judges can talk with participating teams and "invest" in the most viable plans. The 16 teams with the most investment dollars go on to the long presentation round. The four finalists that emerge from that round present their plans to a judging panel of "master entrepreneurs" in a semipublic setting. PEI awards a substantial cash prize to the plan with the greatest potential.

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Additional Training Components

TEC students will also be expected to participate in the High-Tech Entrepreneurship Speaker Series, PEI Club, EAT (Entrepreneurs at the Table) Lunches. The speaker series, held every other Thursday night during the academic year, brings the Northwest's most innovative business leaders to campus to discuss the ideas and the opportunities of the future. PEI Club works to develop its members' network of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists and to promote internship possibilities. The EAT Lunches enable small groups of students to meet in an informal setting with entrepreneurs who share their interests.

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