Entrepreneurial Engineering Program: Innovative Incubator Sequence (EntErPrIISe)

创业工程计划：创新孵化器序列（EntErPrIISe）

• 批准号: 9972938
• 负责人: Gregory Crawford
• 金额: $ 8.61万
• 依托单位: Brown University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1999
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1999-10-01 至 2000-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9972938&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Entrepreneurial; Engineering; Program; Innovative; Incubator

9972938CrawfordIt is generally agreed that the environment for engineering practice is undergoing rapid changes, driven by many diverse factors. A significant fraction of engineering graduates will quickly find themselves in job environments very different from those that they may have been prepared for in traditional engineering programs. Much economic growth is now tied to small, high technology firms (spin-offs or start-ups) in which the role of a few professionals is critical to success. Engineers in these environments cannot afford to be narrowly compartmentalized in their knowledge or thinking. They must be as comfortable talking to potential customers and investors, be able to work closely with business professionals, and be more aware of the market, the legal and environmental constraints, to name a few.A two semester course will be developed at Brown University to introduce selected senior-level students to the entrepreneurial environment. This course would build upon this framework by assembling teams of students from different engineering disciplines to work on new product ideas developed in close cooperation with local industries. The four-to eight member teams will also involve an important additional component - the participation of students from non-engineering disciplines, who have general business interests and background. The intent is to simulate a group of diverse professionals united in working towards the goal of commercializing a new technology-based product. Teams will be supervised by a combination of in-house faculty (the PI's and other engineering and business-oriented faculty) and representatives of the companies sponsoring the problems. The students will be expected to handle issues related to marketing, costing, design, prototyping, manufacturing design, intellectual property, environmental and legal aspects of their product. They will prepare business plans, formally present them to their respective corporate sponsors, revise them, and take the product up to the point of commercial introduction. In the early portions of the course, they will be guided by seminars on entrepreneurial activity. In the end a manual to aid institutions planning such courses will be prepared at the conclusion of the experimental course offering, which will detail the experiences in interfacing the academic partners with the industrial partners.

9972938克劳福德人们普遍认为，工程实践的环境正在经历着快速的变化，这是由许多不同的因素驱动的。相当一部分工程专业毕业生很快就会发现，他们所处的工作环境与他们在传统工程专业所准备的工作环境大不相同。如今，许多经济增长与小型高科技公司（衍生公司或初创公司）联系在一起，在这些公司中，少数专业人士的作用对成功至关重要。在这些环境中，工程师不能在他们的知识或思维上被狭隘地划分。他们必须能够自如地与潜在客户和投资者交谈，能够与商业专业人士密切合作，并且更加了解市场、法律和环境限制，等等。布朗大学将开设两个学期的课程，向选定的高年级学生介绍创业环境。本课程将以这个框架为基础，由来自不同工程学科的学生组成团队，与当地工业密切合作，共同开发新产品。由四至八名成员组成的小组还将包括一个重要的额外组成部分——来自非工程学科、具有一般商业兴趣和背景的学生的参与。其目的是模拟一群不同的专业人士团结起来，朝着商业化一种基于新技术的产品的目标努力。团队将由内部教师（PI和其他工程和商业导向的教师）和赞助问题的公司代表共同监督。学生将被要求处理与市场营销、成本计算、设计、原型设计、制造设计、知识产权、环境和法律方面有关的问题。他们将准备商业计划，将其正式提交给各自的企业赞助商，对其进行修改，并将产品推向商业推广。在课程的早期部分，他们将以创业活动研讨会为指导。最后，将在提供实验课程结束时编写一份手册，以帮助各机构规划这类课程，其中将详细说明将学术伙伴与工业伙伴联系起来的经验。