Graduate Certificate in Engineering - Technology Ventures and Innovation

BEGINNING FALL 2009

The Clark School announces a new four course Graduate Certificate in Engineering (GCEN) program in Technology Ventures and Innovation.

Developed specifically for technology engineers and scientists, we offer a four course graduate certificate program in entrepreneurial practices and tactics. As innovation has emerged as a primary catalyst of US economic growth and competitiveness, entrepreneurial technologists, whether inside a university, government lab, established company, or startup, are well-positioned to develop and commercialize innovations that contribute to economic expansion.

Many of our technologists who have been exposed to technology venturing and innovation best practices become successful entrepreneurs, either with independent startup companies or through new ventures within existing companies.

For Course Information Contact:
Dr. James V. Green, Associate Director of
Entrepreneurship Education
Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute
301-314-1450
Email: jvgreen@umd.edu

Dr. David Barbe, Professor and Executive Director
Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute
301-405-3902
Email: dbarbe@umd.edu

For Admissions Information Contact:
Dr. George Syrmos, Executive Director
Office of Advanced Engineering Education
301-405-3633
Email: syrmos@umd.edu

Graduate Certificate in Engineering Courses (Core Courses ENPM 690, 691)

ENPM 808A Fundamentals of Technology Startup Ventures
Entrepreneurship offers an individual the opportunity to directly control their career and to create great value for society and themselves. Notable successes routinely in the news include Bill Gates, Microsoft, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google, Steve Case, AOL, Larry Ellison, Oracle, and Steve Jobs, Apple & Pixar. These people have changed the way people live and work in very fundamental ways. Yet, very few entrepreneurs achieve this level of success and many fail entirely. Through this course, students will learn the basics of entrepreneurship including the various types of entrepreneurship, what makes the difference between success and failure, the importance of networking to obtain advice without letting others know about the idea and how to create success from almost nothing. Students will also be led through an exercise to determine the strength of their leanings toward entrepreneurship. The information in this course will be delivered through in-class instructions, out of class readings and visits by successful entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs in the making across a broad range of businesses in the DC region.

ENPM 808Z Strategies for Managing Innovation
Strategies for Managing Innovation explores how innovation in organizations operates as a process, how the marketplace affects it, how to identify innovation opportunities, how individuals find innovative roles in their organization, how managers foster innovation in their organization, and how innovation plays a part in an organization's overall strategy.  We will examine the innovation process from the origination of a new idea through its transformation into commercially useful products or results.  We will analyze the continuum of interdependent steps (scanning the business environment, invention, prototype development, venture sponsorship, and meeting recognized social and market needs) that are required to generate an innovative and commercially successful technological product or service. Successful students in this course will be able to:

ENPM 808E Innovative Thinking
Innovative Thinking is an interactive course introducing students to new and powerful tools to boost their creative problem solving skills. Participants re-discover their personal thinking preferences, identify and eliminate mental blocks, and enhance their communication and teaming skills. Students unlock their creative potential, and explore win-win approaches to define and solve problems of different kinds. A breadth of insightful tools and methods are discussed that can be used to develop innovative product and service offerings to improve competitiveness and profitability of start-ups and corporate ventures alike. Intellectual property aspects are also introduced from an innovative thinking perspective.

ENPM 808N Corporate Technology Venturing
Innovation and new business development can be initiated by individuals (independent entrepreneurship) or by existing enterprises (corporate entrepreneurship). Corporate entrepreneurship is ever more considered as a valuable instrument for rejuvenating and revitalizing existing companies and enhancing the practice of innovation for improved competitiveness. This course focuses on how to use innovation as a tool for business development, revenue growth, and profitability enhancement and for pioneering the development of new products, services and processes. Strategies will be explored for how corporate entrepreneurship can lead to new business ventures, the development of new products, services or processes and the renewal of strategies and competitive postures. As such, it can be seen as the sum of a company’s innovation, renewal, and expansion efforts.

ENME 608 Engineering Decision Making
An introduction to structured decision making, including several decision analysis and product design selection methods. The course will cover material on individual and group decision making methods, organization and structure of decision making, and selection under uncertainty. Main topics will include: methods for modeling decisions, uncertainty, and preferences.

• Modeling decisions: Elements of decision making; structuring decisions: influence diagrams, decision trees; making choices; sensitivity analysis; creativity/options
• Modeling uncertainty: Probability basics and models; subjective probability; using data for decisions; Monte Carlo simulation; value of information
• Modeling preferences: Preference capturing methods; decision making under certainty/ uncertainty; risk attitude; utility axioms, paradoxes and implications; decisions with multiple conflicting objectives: multi-attribute utility models; single vs. multiple decision makers
• Product design selection: Demand modeling - conjoint and purchase decision approaches; selection under uncertainty and competition; robust selection (Azarm, Herrmann, Schmidt)

ENME 808B Emerging Manufacturing Processes: 21st Century Manufacturing
Prerequisite: Graduate standing or permission of instructor. This course will provide an introduction to several emerging and evolving modern manufacturing processes and their effect on the development of consumer products. The processes selected are solid free from fabrication and rapid prototyping, semiconductor manufacturing, micro elecromechanical manufacturing techniques, electronic packaging, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and self-assembling materials. These processes will be presented in both their historical and economic contexts. In addition, their advantages, disadvantages, applications, limitations, competing technologies and future trends will be discussed. Future trends will include the effect of the customer selection of product features (e.g., mass customization via Internet ordering), on manufacturing process selection.