Entrepreneurship:

Concept to Commercialization

Facilitator:

Diane Sabato, Assistant Professor, School of Business & Information Technology

A National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance Grant Project

Springfield Technical Community College

About the Class…

This honors course promotes, enhances and supports innovation

through the use of guest speakers, workshops, lectures, field trips,

laboratory experiments, professional advice and group dynamics.

Student teams from a variety of disciplines work on projects, centered

on real-life designs and ideas, with emphasis on creativity and

ingenuity, culminating in a marketable innovation.

Areas of special interest are; safety, adaptive (universal) design,

comprehensive application, flexibility and environmental impact.

How the class was developed

One year planning grant from the National

Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance

Meetings with Vice Presidents and Deans to

gather input to build course content and

promote across campus

How the course was funded

National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators

Alliance, Lemelson Funds

STCC in-kind contributions of staff support,

facility and lots of pizza in the early years,

through collaboration with the Entrepreneurial

Institute

How did we implement it?

Run as pilot for first two semesters, free to students,

supported by grant

File course request through the Honors Department

to formalize the course offering

Curriculum committee course approval as Honors

Program Humanities elective, three credit class

Paul Thornton, Author, “Leadership”

Michael Garjian, Innovators Resource Network, “Inventors Journaling,

Invention to Business Startup”

John Reynolds, Beyond Brackets, Inventor, “Idea to Patent”

Wes Downey and Glen Carlson, Inventors, Defiant Wheels, “Working your invention business”

Tommy Goodrow, Vice President, Economic and Business Development, “Making It Happen!”

James Page, Page Product Design, “Prototyping”

Dennis Kunkler, Designed to Sell, Author, “Product Positioning”

Gayle Hsiao, Entrepreneurship Educator, “Idea Building”

Arlene Rodriguez, Faculty, “STCC Honors Program”

Diane Doherty, Mass Small Business Development Center Network Director, “Business Plans”

Kris Kozuch, “Adaptive Technology and Universal Design”

Carol Farley, Office Information Technology Faculty, “Creating PowerPoint Presentations”

Tori Pleasant, Business Consultant, “Personal presentation skills.”

Gary Bogoff, Owner, Berkshire Brewing Co., “Owning and running your own business.”

Guest Speakers: Key to Success:

The Inventions:

“Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody else has thought.”

     - Albert von Szent-Gyorgyi, Hungarian Biochemist

Some of the Inventions…

The Beverage Keeper prototypes

Glasses with built-in repair kit

Sandy Q Disposable tools for finewoodworking(made with recycled road sand)

Motor Mouth – tracks engine run time

L.L. Knights- for nighttime activities

Multiple Prototypes

Children’s clothing innovationThree ideas in one group

It’s a rapid load

paintball gun

Ideas and More Ideas

Convertible shoes

Multi-head Hammer

Hot or Cold Lunch Keeper

Some of the Process

Including CAD and Rapid Protoyping!

The Inventors and Facilitators

Entrepreneurship: Concept to Commercialization

Section I - Innovation and OpportunityProgram Description and Purpose.Assembling a Comprehensive Team, Choosing Roles and Responsibilities.Seeking & Recognizing Opportunities.Brainstorming, Development and Pursuit of Project Item.

Section II – Team and Concept Viability Set Individual E-Team Objectives.E-Team Project Development.Creative Problem Solving Skills for Entrepreneurs.Evaluating and Certifying Viability.

Entrepreneurship: Concept to Commercialization

Section III – Marketing, Management and Legal Considerations Intro to Small Business Management.Small Business Marketing Seminar.Researching the Market for Your Idea.Developing Marketing Skills for Your Idea.Research Skills for Patents and Copyrights.Legal Environments for Business.

Section IV – Business Plan Development Academic Problem Solving Skills in Academics.Business Plan Development of Objectives.Developing Business Plan Timelines & Strategies.Project Safety Considerations.Project Design Considerations.Create the Project Business Plan.

What worked…

Guest speakers

Creativity exercises

Hands on activities

Diverse group interaction

Group meeting outside of class time

Students setting timelines

Challenges…

Grading – created new criteria

Attendance

Diverse group interaction

Group work outside of class

Idea generation early in the process

Building multiple prototypes

What’s next?

Regenerative feedback,

continuous course improvement

Ongoing marketing and

promotion

New class, open to all students

Entry level innovation class:

“Exploring Innovation for the 21st

Century”

Exploring Innovation for the 21st Century

This course provides direct theoretical and practical expertise in innovation and design. It will utilize the E -Team concept (Entrepreneurship Team) to promote, enhance and support innovation through the use of field studies, group dynamics, design, prototyping, professional advice and guest speakers. Students will be recruited from a variety of disciplines to enhance the E-Team composition and dynamics.

Student projects will focus on redesign of real-life existing products.

The class will explore the relationship between Art and Engineering. Emphasis is given to the students’ creativity and ingenuity, culminating in a marketable innovation. Areas of special interest are; comprehensive application, flexibility, environmental impact, adaptive and universal design and safety.

Exploring Innovation for the 21st Century

Exploring Innovation for the 21st Century

Course Objectives: Through reading, lectures, lab projects and problem solving, students will be able to:

1. Analyze a device or product and redesign it based on the latest

materials and technologies available.

2. Work effectively in teams to explore product/project viability and set

individual objectives.

3. Be able to storyboard and evaluate ideas and concepts for prototypes.

4. Develop a final design, fabricate prototypes and demonstrate their use.

5. Communicate effectively through discussions and written documents.

6. Finalize the product and present it to a group.

The Deep Dive

Click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THz6kbcgw9E&feature=related

The Tower of Babel Challenge

The journey has been incredible.

“…conflict is the primary engine of creativity and innovation.

People don’t learn by staring into a mirror,

people learn by encountering difference.”

~ Ronald Heifetz

Director of Leadership Education Project, Harvard University

Contact Information:

Springfield Technical Community CollegeOne Armory Square, Ste. 1P.O. Box 9000Springfield, MA 01102-9000

Diane Sabato, Assistant Professor, School of Businessdsabato@stcc.edu 413.755.4836