Innovation 601A THECIS project to seed an entrepreneurial attitude in the research community

Beyond a drive to start companies…

…entrepreneurship is an attitude for all work environments

The whole R&D community could be alert to broad benefits from their work

601 is aimed at ALL grad students in science, engineering and medicine regardless of where they will pursue a research based career

Current grad students are the next generation of Alberta S&T talent.

Do their programs identify the opportunities for the community their work will produce?

Quite commonly not.

A course on innovation.

The key issue: how knowledge moves between research and use.

Components: Principles of innovation, Pathways of knowledge, Expert experiences,A project.

An opening weekend to introduce the concept of innovation and survey how knowledge flows into it.

Eight on-line sessions with leaders with practical experience.

An collaborative project examining a case study from the students’ research environment.

A wrap-up weekend where the students present their projects to their peers and expert commentators.

Some contributors: Beverley Sheridan – Technology Now. Paul Clark – former VP Technology –

Nova Bill Cairns – Chief Scientist – Trojan

Technologies Richard Hawkins – Canada Research

Chair in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy

Gordon Moore – In-situ coombustion laboratory, U of C

Student capacity: ~30 (field station and on-line limits).

4 sessions so far - 120 students.

Costs ~ $1,000 per student.

Evaluation: Student appraisals Appraisal of student projects Demand Expert report We are trying to track longer term student outcomes.