Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Engineering Schools:

Why; What; How

GEDC Conference

Adelaide 2nd December 2015

Uzi de Haan- Technion-Cornell Tech

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Outline of presentation

• Why the need for innovation and entrepreneurship in engineering education and research

• What has to be changed and/or added

• How: practical recommendations with as use case: Cornell Tech and the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute in NYC

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Why? the need for change

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Supply SideResearch Universities

Engineering Schools• Education• Research

Technology Transfer Office

Technology

Engineers

Demand Side -Business and other users

Changes:• Service Innovation

jointly with users • Open Innovation-

partner collaboration• Globalization • Exponential technology

growth ; not only digital• Disruptive innovations

spawning new industries

• New startups-incumbents industry configurations

Explosive, Self Feeding Growth of Technologies;which is overwhelming incumbent companies, and cause rapid changes in industries.

Industries attempt to cope with high levels of uncertainty and risks through engagement with external and internal entrepreneurial innovation

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Growth in Technologies is compounded by Disruptive Innovations which combine technologies across disciplinesand industries; create new value propositions and value capturemodels ; unbundle existing industries and migrate value to newIndustries thereby changing the competitive landscape

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Startups have become essential components of industries

Sourcesof Technology

-Universities-ResearchInstitutes

-CorporateResearch

-Entrepreneurs

Startups de-risk:-technology

-markets-biz models

Independent new Company

Incumbent firms and Acquisitions of (large)incumbent firms - R&D

Focus on learning curve and incremental innovations

Incumbent Firms – R&D + A&D

Acquisitionof

Startups

Entrepreneurial agency as indispensable part of industry

emergence and innovation

Classical Engineering Schools and MBA

Startup MBAStartup Engineering

Israel ‘sBiz model

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Engineers play a key role in changes at the demand side

Challenging both engineering and business schools education

Educate to Innovate (2015) The Academy of Engineering What are factors that influence innovation and

entrepreneurship:Skills and Attributes:

• Creativity

• Dissatisfaction with status-quo

• Intense curiosity

• The ability to identify serendipitous moments

• Willingness to take risk and to fail

• Passion

• Knowledge of their field

• The ability to identify good problems/ideas

• The ability to work at the interfaces of disciplines

• The ability to sell and idea

• Persistence, flexibility , handling ambiguity

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Experiences Interdisciplinary collaborationsIndustrial experienceIdentification and solution of open problemsMentorshipRole modelsUpbringing that nurtures innovationExperience of trial and error and failure followed by successPlayfulness, tinkering, experimenting

Environments:Explicitly encourage innovationHave physical spaces for free/open/informal discussionsFacilitate interdisciplinary collaborationEncourage following one’s passionPlace a strong emphasis on the value of educationProvide freedom to tinker

What: The carriers that can provide and educate the needed skills/attributes;

experiences and environments for innovation and entrepreneurship

1. Engagement- Engaged Learning by students through collaborating

with companies and users/markets to tackle problems

- Engaged faculty involved in user inspired research and engaged learning

2. Design thinking :– embedded in the standard engineering courses – and as connecting and additional layer of education

mostly in form of Project Based Learning and by teams

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WHAT? Need for “startup” engineers also in established firms

• T- engineers and researchers- Proficient in one technology domain- Able to connect dots across domains

• Design thinkers combining- Science/Engineering logic- Handling uncertainty and ambiguity- Creativity - Empathy

• Leadership, Communication and team skills

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How: some generic recommendations that may help navigating your present

road map in innovation and entrepreneurship

Use case: the new engineering school Cornell Tech in NYC housing the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute started in 2013. Has presently 2 one year Master programs: CS and MBA, 2 two year Master programs in Connected Media and Health-Tech, a PhD program and a startup postdoc program called Runway.

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2017Phase OneThe Bridge Co-Lo building for companiesBloomberg Open Space academic buildingResidential buildingVerizon Executive Ed Center (2019)

How: generic recommendations for research that matters

• Include ‘proven engagement’ in faculty hiring requirements

• Amplify user inspired research with an impact by providing capabilities of prototype/artifact development , piloting with users and new IP models

• Provide specific opportunities for student entrepreneurs to act as agents of technology transfer. E.g. the i-corps program, PhD entrepreneurial leads in Labs, the startup-postdoc Runway program . Rethink IP ownership and transfer by faculty and students

• Academic appointment of Chief Entrepreneurship Officer on School/Department level.

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Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute

Runway

Startup

Postdocs Part business school, part research

institution, and part startup incubator

Unique IP model

Small stake in company for financial

support and free, exclusive license

Runway startup postdoc program:“Applying deep technology to hard problems in the real world”

Started in Jan 2014.

Annual cycle of cohorts of four to six postdocs. Next

one August 2016. Application until 15th February

2016 http://tech.cornell.edu/programs/startup-

postdocs

Runway is an international l program. Your PhDs are

encouraged to apply.

• The Runway model is scalable and applicable to all

research universities

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How: generic recommendations for education

• Engineering schools acting as incubators offering students multiple support points for building companies and products (e.g. courses, bizplancompetition, 3DS, Hackathons, TTO, I-lab , E-Club)

• Built a Studio Culture of questioning/critique, building and experimenting, breakouts in teams, collaboration and a Studio Space as core space for project courses, guest speakers, hackathons, etc.

• Offer across departments project courses to design products and startups when possible jointly with other schools (Business, Medical, Law, Architecture) with practitioners as teaching support

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How: generic recommendations for research and education

• Engage with real world problems by bringing in practitioners as teachers not only for specific credited courses or guest talks but as:– Co-teachers of projects and design courses– Project mentors– Specific workshops

• Design and project courses are labor intensive. Scale by practitioners as co-teachers and by guided peer learning

• Engagement between industry and students by internships , by allowing part-time student employment and by company projects

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