Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship Education
Why Is This Important?
Our Approach to Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Technology
Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship Education
To facilitate the integration of science, engineering and management disciplines on campus, the Isenberg Program encourages and informs students and faculty who are interested in nurturing new ideas, inventions and discoveries to create innovations that:
- Solve problems
- Change the way people work or live
- Create new economic value
Our initiatives offer participants the opportunity to complement their knowledge of a particular discipline with experiences and skills that will support innovation development. For scientists and engineers as well as artists, social scientists, educators, and others seeking to apply technology in new ways, we augment domain expertise with information about business and management related to entrepreneurship. Those coming from business backgrounds learn how to apply that knowledge to entrepreneurship as well as principle of technology development. All gain hands-on interdisciplinary experience in how to dig into unfamiliar fields to discover potential applications, markets, and value as the foundation for business and commercialization planning for entrepreneurial ventures based on novel applications of, or enabled by technology.
While technology, innovation and entrepreneurship capabilities have long been important to the growth and renewal of our economy and society, their systematic practice has grown increasingly necessary with the rise of the knowledge economy. At the individual level, future academic researchers and industry leaders with such training will be better equipped to transform new knowledge into tangible benefits for society.
Our Approach to Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Technology
Innovation meets a societal need by the development and commercialization of a new product or service, a new method of production or provision, a new method of transportation or service delivery, a new business model, a new market or a new form of organization. We focus on innovations based on science and engineering discoveries and inventions; especially those being developed by the campus and/or its research, education, and industry partners.
Invention, discovery, and novel ideas are absolutely essential to but not wholly sufficient for innovation.
Effective innovation development is an interdisciplinary, collaborative process that requires diverse perspectives, expertise, and resources.
Entrepreneurship is the set of skills, capabilities, tools, techniques and activities that create economic and/or social value based on new ideas, unmet needs and emerging opportunities. It is important to differentiate entrepreneurial ventures from small businesses that are based on formulaic, proven approaches; entrepreneurial ventures have the potential for broad-based impact and often require creation of a new approach. Accordingly, entrepreneurship may be practiced in a large organization as well as in a small one.
Many business methods and technologies we take for granted today were first proven in the marketplace by entrepreneurs taking risks in an effort to accomplish something new; grocery stores, telephonic communications, personal computers, disease-based medical research foundations, and fast food are all examples of this.
Technology is the application of scientific or engineering knowledge to create new capabilities and/or original solutions to problems. While technology is often thought of as the product of science or engineering, throughout our initiatives we emphasize a broader definition. For example, technology makes feasible new business models in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors; computer applications are creating new forms of music and visual arts; and the Internet is enabling new types of social networks. With this perspective, we engage innovators from all academic disciplines and look forward to working collaboratively with them.
