Master of Technology Entrepreneurship & Innovation (MTEI)

In this required non-credit course, students work to develop professional skills in an entrepreneurial context. Primarily, this course involves required student attendance at invited speaker events, attendance at career and skill development seminars and participation in networking activities/events. Students take this course in both fall and winter semesters while they are taking courses in the program.

This non-credit course supplements academic coursework for students pursuing the coursework stream in the MTEI program. Students gain training and expertise in business to business sales techniques in the context of small entrepreneurial organizations.

This course is designed to inform founders, policy makers, support organizations, and key new-venture team members about key elements of new venture finance, while adopting a special focus on cash flows and private equity, from inception to IPO or acquisition. Topics include sources of capital (such as venture capital); business angels; CPCs and public fund raising activities; valuation; deal structuring; term sheets; issues related to management compensation; and types of harvest and their consequences for the new venture team and investors.

Students examine the design of business models, frameworks for platform innovation creation, and lifecycles in complex multi-sided markets. Topics include: lean entrepreneurship, hypothesis testing, minimum viable product, customer validation, pivoting, prototype development, patterns in platform creation, marketing and growth, control issues, and evolution concepts.

Innovation is a complex process requiring an aggregation of knowledge, a variety of technologies and competences. Guiding this process is the main challenge to fostering and benefiting from innovation. This course focuses on guiding the innovation process, especially when seeking to manage and benefit from innovation in uncertain environments. The course combines theory of innovation management, including business models for innovation, with an introduction to innovation management tools.

Students will consider marketing strategies for entrepreneurial and early stage firms. Topics usually include: (1) value creation and product development, (2) customer selection, (3) brand development and positioning, (4) capturing value through pricing, (5) go-to-market strategies and (6) customer profitability, lifetime value and marketing metrics. Successful entrepreneurs will be invited as guest speakers. The course requires applied learning through cases, simulations and hands-on projects in entrepreneurial settings.

Ironically, many of the skills required to lead innovation (e.g., associating, questioning, observing, networking) run counter to highly valued skills in tech industries (e.g., subject matter expertise, problem solving ability, singular pursuit of excellence). Students will question traditional models of leadership and power and discuss some ‘fatal flaws’ that leaders must avoid to excel in this area.

Students examine the models and frameworks to rapidly create and align a technology strategy for innovative products and organizations. Students assess technology strategy maps with respect to state-of-the-art technologies. Topics include trendspotting, implication of events in technology fields, alliances, and increasing productivity in organizations.

Students examine management planning and control and reporting systems in the entrepreneurial organization. Emphasis is on processes and techniques of performance analysis in the technology and innovation context, leading to improved management decision-making. Some topics may include; variance analysis, capital structures and governance and analysis metrics. Integrative problem solving and case-analysis are emphasized at both group and individual levels.

Global innovation networks are rapidly changing to include developed and developing countries. Understanding innovation systems and the dynamics of establishing global innovation networks is key for tapping into new forms of knowledge production and exploitation. Students will focus on how firms connect with local and global networks, and how firms can engage in global value chains.

The MTEI Graduate Internship provides students an experiential learning opportunity in an organization. Students apply the concepts learned in the MTEI program and are required to submit reports throughout the internship process. Faculty and employer(s) collaborate on student assessment.