Technology Management and Entrepreneurship

Provides students an opportunity to be introduced to TME topics and will serve as a foundation for subsequent TME courses. Topics addressed may vary based on faculty expertise and emergent issues.

An introduction to fundamentals of finance in new ventures and/or high growth technology-driven businesses. Students will learn how to interpret and analyze financial statements and develop proforma financial statements. The course will enable students to enhance their knowledge of sound principles of finance and alternative sources of finance. Students will learn about venture capital financing and initial public offerings (IPO) and the role they play in financing high growth, high tech businesses. Students will also develop skills in financing negotiations.

An introduction to business planning and strategy concepts in start-up and early stage technology-driven businesses. The course addresses a wide spectrum of functional activities in a dynamic business enterprise including finance, operations, human resource management, change management, sales/marketing, and customer relationship management. Business analysis, communication, and planning skills are developed and students are introduced to shifting business paradigms in the global, digital economy. 

Designed to prepare participants for the management practices which they might expect to encounter in a progressive organization. Many of these practices involve the standardization and continuous improvement of business processes. The course explores implementation of Lean and Six Sigma, as well as -ISO 9000, the international standard on quality management. It also focuses on the use of continuous improvement and Statistical Process Control (SPC) concepts, which lead to fundamentally new ways of thinking about innovation and problem solving.

The future of most organizations depends on successful projects. The participants will gain an understanding of the principles of project management including organizing, planning, scheduling and controlling projects to achieve a set of objectives. The course will enhance knowledge and skills of project managers in such topics as people managements skills, managing project risks, controlling project changes and systems thinking. Emphasis is placed on technology-intensive projects which tend to have a high degree of specialized human resources skills/knowledge requirements.

Provides an introduction to the marketing of technology focused on industrial goods and services. Includes essentials of marketing, such as product development, promotional design, distribution, pricing/budgeting determination, strategic analysis, communication skills, client/customer relations, and considerations for the small business environment. 

Provides selected students an opportunity to complete an independent project course of study. Permission of both the instructor of the associated course and the program Chair is required. Students may register for this course only once during their degree. 

Provides selected students an opportunity to complete an independent or group-based course of study. Permission of both the instructor of the associated course and the program Chair is required. Students may register for this course only once during their degree. 

An introduction to technological entrepreneurship from two perspectives: Creativity (the production of new technology-based business ideas/opportunities by entrepreneurs) and Innovation (the implementation of those ideas). Students will be presented entrepreneurship as a career alternative, the entrepreneurial process, creativity and its components, management of creativity and innovation in organizations, evaluation of entrepreneurial opportunities and the linkages between entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, as well as the economic and social impacts of technology on society. Students generate new venture ideas or ideas for a social enterprise, evaluate the feasibility, pitch the merits, and create a business plan that they defend in a contest. The course is particularly aimed at students who aspire to launch their own startup, those who would like to investigate startup as a career option, or those who wish to familiarize themselves with the concepts, issues, and techniques of new venture creation and entrepreneurship to better prepare for the changing business environment. 

An introduction to mature and emerging technologies and the entrepreneurial opportunities arising from these technologies. Topics include evolution of technology-intensive industry sectors, assessment of technological risk from an entrepreneurial perspective and the economic and social impacts of technology on society.

An opportunity for experiential learning related to the management of technology and/or technological entrepreneurship. Students co-design, develop and implement a project in collaboration with an external organization or a designated mentor. The project must be jointly supervised by a representative of the external organization or mentor, and a designated faculty member.