KEENzine1

ISSUE ONE 13 FACULTY With his background in business and economics, Fried recognizes the power of an entrepreneurial mindset to transform products, companies, and individuals. “For a long time, I’ve been interested in the potential of entrepreneurship,” he says. “Broadly defined, it can empower students to take control of their lives, allowing them to transform their passions into a satisfying and gratifying life.” The object of the seminar is to develop business and marketing plans that will explore the potential for commercialization. Teams are formed, each combining one engineering student with three liberal arts students. The groups begin by identifying a potential product and its customer base. Each team is assigned a mentor from industry, typically the president or vice president of a local company. The teams then go through a process of discovery, ideation, design, and business model development. As they develop their own product, students experience the entire design and business development process. Bucinell and Fried have cultivated an impressive array of outside resources for the benefit of their students. The course is supported by two law firms, a regional economic development agency, a venture capital firm, a graduate business program, numerous entrepreneurs, and many small- to medium-size businesses in the region. Guest speakers visit the class every week to talk about their areas of expertise, including entrepreneurship, creativity, venture capital, intellectual property, angel investing, government programs, and corporate structures. The culmination of the course is the Business Vision Competition, where students are encouraged to create a 15-minute presentation tailored to the interests of potential investors. Prior to the main presentation by each team, one of its members delivers a 45-60 second “elevator pitch” to introduce the product and convey its value. Each team member then takes part in describing the market, their product, potential customers, competitive factors, and their business model. The professors exhort students to unleash their creativity, as the instructions for the project’s conclusion indicate: “Turn your business canvas into a story, perhaps from the perspective of a happy customer. How did the customer hear about the opportunity, take advantage of the opportunity, and how is their life different as a result? Convey the experience with eloquence and a literary flair.” “Our goal is to make students more entrepreneurial minded, innovation oriented, and better able to recognize opportunities to develop solutions that are attuned to customer needs,” Fried explains. “They come out of the program better able to work with interdisciplinary teams, and are better equipped to contribute to innovation in a business.” The program emphasizes the essential KEEN elements: collaboration in a team setting, application of critical and creative thinking to ambiguous problems, identification of new business opportunities, and communication with customers on appropriate value propositions. The need for, and value of, an entrepreneurial mindset is crucial to America’s future, Bucinell emphasizes. “Engineering in the 21st century needs to be more than just performing designed calculations. The engineering jobs of old are becoming commodities that are being exported to the lowest bidder. Since the rest of the world is putting out about two dozen engineers for every one of ours, it is clear where the jobs will be headed. The 21st century engineer needs to be on the innovation side of the equation.” flair. The professors exhort students to use creativity to convey the experience with eloquence and a literary