Certificate in New Venture Creation
Venture Lab
The Certificate in New Venture Creation is designed to
provide technical professionals with the business knowledge required to
successfully engage in creating a new venture or launch new products. The
certificate consists of three (3) required courses and one (1) elective to be
selected in consultation with the Center Director and the student’s academic
advisor, a total of 12 credits. The required courses are: The Foundations of
New Venture Creation; New Product Development Process; Practicum; and an Elective.
Foundations of New Venture Creation (66.515)
This course is designed to meet the needs of engineering and
science professionals who may be involved in taking new science from idea to
market commercialization. VNC contains modules introducing the following topics:
·
Idea and Market Validation
·
Competitive and Market Intelligence
·
Finance: Cash Flow, Capitalization Tables, Venture
Investment
·
IP/Legal: Basics of IP Law, Basics of Business Law
·
Linking Technology and Markets via Technology
Roadmaping
·
Marketing: Value Proposition, Distribution, Pricing
·
Sales: Product Sales, Joint Ventures &
Negotiations
·
Strategy Formulation and Implementation
New Product
Development Processes (66.516)
New
product development practitioners have developed an impressive body of
knowledge of effective NPD practices and processes over the past decade and a
half. However, these are rarely taught
at universities. Most often, learning
takes place when a person finds him or herself needing to know. These people take advantage of corporate
and/or professional education, when that is available.
To
fill this gap, PNPD will provide modules on:
·
Product management and new product
strategy
·
Developing products that meet customer
needs
o
Understanding customer needs:
qualitative market research
o
Creativity and idea generation
o
Principles of industrial design
·
The product development process
o
Understand business cases
o
Forming and managing new product teams
o
New product reviews
·
Emerging issues in NPD
o
The digital revolution
o
Collaboration, partnerships, and
outsourcing
Practicum Experience (66.517)
Multi-disciplinary graduate
student teams, with faculty mentoring, will work with real world cases to
create an investable opportunity based on providing:
·
Market
·
Technology
& Customer Validation
·
Technology
Management
·
Product
prototype
·
Company
Positioning
·
Strategic
Alliances, Partnering and Business Ecosystems
·
Overall
Strategic Plan
·
Strategic
Plan Implementation and Management
·
Framework
of sustainability and ‘balanced scorecard’ performance measurement.
Elective
Certificate students may
take any graduate course in the University for which they have the prerequisite
background and can show how it relates to their program of study. Students in a
science/technology based practicum may wish to take this elective prior to
engaging in the practicum, thus establishing a relationship with a
science/technology mentor to go along with the business mentorship offered by
the new venture faculty.
Participation Options
New Venture Certificate Program
This program is appropriate for science and
engineering professionals who wish to increase their skills in the area of new
venture and new product creation.
Students applying for this certificate program must hold a Bachelors
Degree in a science, engineering, or other technical field. Certificate
students will be required to have an entrance interview with the program
directors prior to admission and will be expected to have a particular new
venture/product idea in mind as the focus of their program study. To arrange an
informational and/or admittance interview, please send a resume and contact
information to the program director.
Engineering Doctoral Students
Doctor of Engineering students may satisfy the
business credit requirement for their program with this three course sequence. Please
see the Director for class permission numbers.
The Faculty Team
Valerie Kijewski, Director Valerie
brings over 30 years of experience in business design and analysis to the New
Venture program. While consulting, she worked with new product development in
the top firms in the world, and as a faculty member at UML, she have led more
than 30 technology commercialization projects with University technology.
Valerie is the founder of the New Venture Lab.
Beatrice
Nelson, is a well-known and well-respected consultant in the field of
innovation. She was Book Review Editor for the Journal of Product Innovation
Management and Lead Facilitator of PDMA's Frontier Dialogues. She is currently
co-director of the International Association for Product Development. Her book,
New Product Development for Dummies, will be released in the spring of 2007.
Ashwin
Mehta is a Visiting Faculty; brings an experience of over 40 years in
business & industry and new technology ventures creation & management;
has been teaching information technology, strategy & business management
since 2001.
Venture Lab
Cultivate
a multidisciplinary community that develops state-of-the art practices and
tools to convert intellectual property into sustainable businesses.
The Lab
will accomplish this through educational programs, research, and community
outreach focused on entrepreneurship and new venture development.
Contact Information
Valerie
Kijewski, Director
Venture Lab
978-934-2819