A Sequence of Technology Commercialization Courses for Science and Engineering

Arthur Felse; Igor Kourkine

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Conference: 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Publication Date: June 15, 2014
Start Date: June 15, 2014
End Date: June 18, 2014
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: Integration of Engineering and Other Disciplines (Including Liberal Arts)
Tagged Divisions: Multidisciplinary Engineering and Liberal Education/Engineering & Society
Page Count: 16
Page Numbers: 24.103.1 - 24.103.16
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--19995
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/19995
Download Count: 437

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Paper Authors

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Arthur Felse Northwestern University

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Arthur Felse is a Lecturer and the Assistant Director for Research in the Master of Biotechnology Program. His responsibilities include teaching, student advising, coordinating research training, and managing the MBP teaching laboratory. Before joining Northwestern University, Dr. Felse completed his post-doctoral training at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University. He received his BS in Chemical Engineering as well as his MS in Biotechnology from Anna University, India and PhD in Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology from the Indian Institute of Technology. Arthur is a recipient of the EPA’s Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award and has served as a faculty in the Chemical Engineering Summer School. Arthur is actively involved in engineering education research with particular emphasis on teaching engineering to non-engineers, and including industry practices in university education. Arthur is a member of American Society for Engineering Education.

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Igor Kourkine

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Abstract

A Technology Commercialization Course Sequence for Science and Engineering ABSTRACT Technology commercialization is a concerted multi-phase process in which a sequence of actionsis taken to bring a nascent technology to the market. In order to succeed, this process must includescientists and engineers not only at the birth of a technology but also during the subsequent phases of itscommercialization. The importance of incorporating elements of entrepreneurship and technologycommercialization in engineering education has been emphasized by the National Academy of Sciences(NAS) and is also echoed in “Engineer of 2020” report of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). This paper describes the development and implementation of a series of three TechnologyCommercialization courses at our University. Motivation for the development of this series came fromthe opinions of NAS and NAE, from the recommendations of our Industrial Advisory Board to educateengineers with business acumen, and the new focus on unifying skills (collaboration, communication,critical thinking, and creativity) in our curriculum. All topics covered in this series lay at the interface of technology and business. Broadly the firstcourse focused on technology assessment and feasibility studies, commonly accepted as the initial phasesof technology commercialization. The second course focused on business development and productlaunch, which are the intermediate phases of technology commercialization. Students received instructionon patents, copyrights, trademarks, costing and economic evaluations and practiced applying the SWOTanalysis (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats) to several business and managerial problems.Students also received training in project management, regulatory compliance, business strategy, and theuse of Porter’s Five Forces framework. The third course involved a team project, in which students usedthe knowledge acquired in the first two courses to evaluate the commercialization potential of a product.This course unified the students’ science, engineering, and business knowledge. Project based learningmethods were applied with instructors performing the role of coaches for projects. Students collected andanalyzed data, debated the implications of their findings, and came up with their recommendations on theviability of the technology they studied. The implicit challenge in developing a technology commercialization course is the integrationand balancing of business and technology. Instructors need to familiarize students with a host of newbusiness concepts, but they also need to make students comfortable with embracing uncertainty in dataand encourage them to make judgments based on incomplete information. The latter tasks arechallenging given the mostly deductive and converging mode of thinking of science and engineeringstudents. Our efforts and experiences in surmounting these challenges will be discussed. This paper will describe the pedagogical approaches we used for student engagement andcoherent delivery of business concepts. Also included will be the evaluation and team developmentmethods we applied. Several guest instructors from the industry brought a truly multi-disciplinarycharacter to this course sequence. In addition, students were given numerous opportunities to practicetheir critical thinking skills. This paper will detail our actions and student reactions.

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Format

Felse, A., & Kourkine, I. (2014, June), A Sequence of Technology Commercialization Courses for Science and Engineering Paper presented at 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Indianapolis, Indiana. 10.18260/1-2--19995

TY - CPAPER
AB - A Technology Commercialization Course Sequence for Science and Engineering ABSTRACT Technology commercialization is a concerted multi-phase process in which a sequence of actionsis taken to bring a nascent technology to the market. In order to succeed, this process must includescientists and engineers not only at the birth of a technology but also during the subsequent phases of itscommercialization. The importance of incorporating elements of entrepreneurship and technologycommercialization in engineering education has been emphasized by the National Academy of Sciences(NAS) and is also echoed in “Engineer of 2020” report of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). This paper describes the development and implementation of a series of three TechnologyCommercialization courses at our University. Motivation for the development of this series came fromthe opinions of NAS and NAE, from the recommendations of our Industrial Advisory Board to educateengineers with business acumen, and the new focus on unifying skills (collaboration, communication,critical thinking, and creativity) in our curriculum. All topics covered in this series lay at the interface of technology and business. Broadly the firstcourse focused on technology assessment and feasibility studies, commonly accepted as the initial phasesof technology commercialization. The second course focused on business development and productlaunch, which are the intermediate phases of technology commercialization. Students received instructionon patents, copyrights, trademarks, costing and economic evaluations and practiced applying the SWOTanalysis (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats) to several business and managerial problems.Students also received training in project management, regulatory compliance, business strategy, and theuse of Porter’s Five Forces framework. The third course involved a team project, in which students usedthe knowledge acquired in the first two courses to evaluate the commercialization potential of a product.This course unified the students’ science, engineering, and business knowledge. Project based learningmethods were applied with instructors performing the role of coaches for projects. Students collected andanalyzed data, debated the implications of their findings, and came up with their recommendations on theviability of the technology they studied. The implicit challenge in developing a technology commercialization course is the integrationand balancing of business and technology. Instructors need to familiarize students with a host of newbusiness concepts, but they also need to make students comfortable with embracing uncertainty in dataand encourage them to make judgments based on incomplete information. The latter tasks arechallenging given the mostly deductive and converging mode of thinking of science and engineeringstudents. Our efforts and experiences in surmounting these challenges will be discussed. This paper will describe the pedagogical approaches we used for student engagement andcoherent delivery of business concepts. Also included will be the evaluation and team developmentmethods we applied. Several guest instructors from the industry brought a truly multi-disciplinarycharacter to this course sequence. In addition, students were given numerous opportunities to practicetheir critical thinking skills. This paper will detail our actions and student reactions.
AU - Arthur Felse
AU - Igor Kourkine
CY - Indianapolis, Indiana
DA - 2014/06/15
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - A Sequence of Technology Commercialization Courses for Science and Engineering
UR - https://peer.asee.org/19995
DO - 10.18260/1-2--19995
ER -