Units: 3-4

Quarter Offered: Spring

CEE 246 is a unique course geared toward developing entrepreneurial businesses (both start-ups and internal ventures). This team, project-based class teaches students how to exploit emerging materials science, engineering and IT technologies to radically apply innovation to the real economy e.g., new products and services that produce real economic value for society as well as for the entrepreneurs. Areas of focus include: Sustainable Buildings and Infrastructure, Digital Cities and Communities, Clean Energy, Transportation and Logistics, Advanced Manufacturing, Digital Health Care, and Education. With one-on-one support from seasoned industry mentors and influential guest speakers, the course guides students through the three key elements of new venture creation: identifying opportunities, developing business plans, and determining funding sources. The class culminates with business presentations to industry experts, VCs and other investors. The goal is to equip students with the knowledge and network to create impactful business ideas, many of which have been launched from this class.

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Units: 3-4

Quarter Offered: Spring

How do you create a start-up outside of the U.S.? What are the unique issues involved in creating a successful startup in emerging economies such as China or India? What is entrepreneurial leadership in a venture that spans country borders? Is Silicon Valley-style entrepreneurship possible in other places? How does an entrepreneur act differently when creating a company in a less-developed institutional environment? Learn through forming teams, a mentor-guided startup project focused on developing students' startups in international markets, case studies, research on the international aspects of the entrepreneurial process, and networking with top entrepreneurs and venture capitalists who work across borders. For graduate students only, with a preference for engineering and science majors who seek to understand the formation of high-impact start-ups in emerging economy contexts. Limited enrollment.

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Units: 3

Quarter Offered: Spring

For graduate students only, with a preference for engineering and science majors. Emphasis on managing high-growth, early-stage enterprises, especially those with innovation-based products and services. Students work in teams to develop skills and approaches necessary to becoming effective entrepreneurial leaders and managers. Topics include assessing risk, understanding business models, analyzing key operational metrics, modeling cash flow and capital requirements, evaluating sources of financing, structuring and negotiating investments, managing organizational culture and incentives, managing the interplay between ownership and growth, and handling adversity and failure. Limited enrollment. Admission by application. Recommended: basic accounting.

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Units: 3-4

Quarter Offered: Spring

The goal of this highly experiential course is to help students from across disciplines master the skills required to bring bold ideas to fruition. We use the Invention Cycle framework for fostering creative problem solving, and pretotyping tools to methodically determine which innovations are viable. Workshops, case studies, and team design projects, supported by guest speakers and readings. The philosophy of the course is that every problem is an opportunity for a creative solution; and its mission is to help students hone the skills needed to move effectively from the seeds of inspiration through evaluation of their ideas. Enrollment limited. Admission by application.

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Units: 3-4

Quarter Offered: Spring

In a crisis, national security initiatives move at the speed of a startup yet in peacetime they default to decades-long acquisition and procurement cycles. Startups operate with continual speed and urgency 24/7. Over the last few years they've learned how to be not only fast, but extremely efficient with resources and time using lean startup methodologies. In this class student teams will take actual national security problems and learn how to apply lean startup principles, ("business model canvas," "customer development," and "agile engineering) to discover and validate customer needs and to continually build iterative prototypes to test whether they understood the problem and solution. Teams take a hands-on approach requiring close engagement with actual military, Department of Defense and other government agency end-users. Team applications required in February. Limited enrollment.

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