For more information, contact Connie Steele, (937) 775-3232.

March 18, 2005

Wright State launches new Certificate Program in Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Bridging the gap between technology and business

Wright State’s new Certificate Program in Innovation and Entrepreneurship is designed to bridge the gap between technology and business with the goal of creating tomorrow’s technological leaders.

“With the breakneck pace of technological advances, it is imperative that our labor force be knowledgeable in the concepts integral to both innovation and entrepreneurship,” said Professor Robert Premus, Department of Economics. “The certificate program provides the skills essential to spotting technological trends and developing ‘the next big thing’ as well as the entrepreneurial skills to guide it to market. Providing graduates with this powerful combination of skills will help ensure that the U.S. economy retains its capacity to grow well into the future.”

Premus cited the example of the exploding field of nanotechnology. “The engineer in the lab has the technical expertise to forge new breakthroughs in the field, but not necessarily the business acumen needed to bring it to the marketplace. Likewise, someone from the business side needs a general knowledge of the technology, how it works, its applications, and the medical issues and problems involved. They need to know enough about the subject to talk about it and to see emerging trends in the field.”

Jointly sponsored by the College of Engineering and Computer Science and the Raj Soin College of Business, the certificate program is offered at both the undergraduate and graduate level, regardless of a student’s professional pursuit. In addition to the budding entrepreneur, the program provides valuable skills for an employee who wants to help his or her company innovate and bring new products to market.

The program is scheduled to begin fall quarter 2005. Participants complete a 22-credit-hour curriculum that includes a capstone team project done in conjunction with an industrial sponsor. Classes cover topics such as “Technology-Based Ventures,” “Engineering Economics,” Managing for Creativity and Innovation,” and “Product and Price Management.”

For more information about the program, contact the program’s director, S. Narayanan, Ph.D., professor and chair, Department of Biomedical, Industrial, and Human Factors Engineering, at (937) 775-5044 or snarayan@cs.wright.edu. Questions can also be addressed to Robert Premus, Ph.D. professor, Department of Economics, at (937) 775-3069 or robert.premus@wright.edu.