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New Graduate Certificate Program Teaches Process for Assessing Technologies’ Commercial Potential

The new certificate program is designed to be a centerpiece in NC State University’s efforts to integrate entrepreneurship into graduate curricula, said Ted Baker, associate professor of entrepreneurship in the College of Management’s Department of Management, Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Graduate Certificate Director.

The certificate program is open to all graduate students at NC State, as well as others in the area who have a bachelor’s degree and a strong interest in the commercialization of new technologies.

Baker said he is beginning to accept applications to the program immediately. Those admitted to the certificate program will begin their coursework in the next semester in which certificate courses are offered, and must complete the coursework within three years of acceptance. The curriculum comprises three four-credit-hour courses that are part of the entrepreneurship and technology commercialization concentration in the NC State Jenkins MBA program.

The TEC program faculty has more than 15 years’ experience in teaching a process for evaluating the commercialization potential of new technologies and developing a business plan for those that have potential. A number of companies have been spun off from technologies that were scrutinized by teams of students in the TEC program, which is taught as a concentration in the College of Management’s Jenkins MBA program.

“This certificate program supports a key investment priority stated in the university’s strategic plan; namely, fostering “innovation-driven economic development,” Baker said. Baker; Roger Debo, director of the TEC program; and Mark Johnson, associate professor of material science engineering in the College of Engineering, are team-teaching the curriculum. Mentors of the entrepreneurship and engineering communities also work with the students as they apply their coursework to assess new technologies.

“Our goal with this certificate program is to encourage more graduate students to obtain the management training that will allow them to transfer success in the laboratory to success in the marketplace,” Johnson said.

A core strength of the NC State College of Management’s founding mission is its focus on training business leaders for technology-intensive organizations. The college partnered with NC State’s College of Engineering in 1993 to obtain a National Science Foundation grant that supported the development of a technology-based entrepreneurship curriculum.

That curriculum, now known as the TEC sequence in the Jenkins MBA program’s entrepreneurship and technology commercialization concentration, includes two courses: MBA/MSE 576, Technology Evaluation and Commercialization Concepts, and MBA/MSE 577, High Tech Entrepreneurship.

“This sequence helps graduate students develop the ability to manage in environments in which many of the key employees are engineers or scientists,” Johnson said. “It also changes the way that students in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines think about the commercial potential of their technical work,” he said.

Students also will take a third course taught through the Jenkins MBA program, MBA 570, Managing the Growth Venture.

The Graduate TEC Certificate program will bring together MBA students and graduate students in engineering and science for coursework that is built around real technologies with untapped commercial potential, Baker said.

“The students will obtain skills and insights not available without such hands-on cross-disciplinary experience,” he said.

Application materials are available online at the NC State College of Management website or through the NC State Graduate School website. For additional information, contact Baker directly.

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