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Designing, Developing and Implementing an Entrepreneurship Program

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Conference

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Atlanta, Georgia

Publication Date

June 23, 2013

Start Date

June 23, 2013

End Date

June 26, 2013

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Programs in Entrepreneurship

Tagged Division

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

Page Count

9

Page Numbers

23.384.1 - 23.384.9

DOI

10.18260/1-2--19398

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/19398

Download Count

397

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Paper Authors

biography

Monique Fuchs Wentworth Institute of Technology

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Monique Fuchs is Associate Vice President, Innovation + Entrepreneurship for Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, where she oversees student development and the launch of an innovation and entrepreneurship center. Dr. Fuchs has experience in the profit and non-profit sector, in international settings and in a variety of industries including Consulting Services, IT, Higher Education, Publishing, Engineering, Biotechnology, and Architecture/Design.
Dr. Fuchs is the author of the book “Change Management in Higher Education” (published in German) has presented at international conferences in North America and Europe, and teaches “Organizational Behavior”, “Leadership and Management”, and “Innovation” at Wentworth Institute of Technology. She earned her PhD in Education/Organizational Development and MEd from the University of Passau in Germany, a Graduate Certificate of Organizational and Executive Coaching from Columbia University.

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biography

Frederick F. Driscoll Wentworth Institute of Technology

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Professor Frederick Driscoll is the Dean of the College of Engineering and Technology at Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston, Massachusetts. He has authored or co-authored thirteen textbooks in circuits, semiconductor devices, integrated circuits, microprocessors, microcontrollers, and data communications. Some of these textbooks have been published in six different languages. He has been responsible for program accreditation and made presentations at national and regional conferences on integrated engineering programs and assessment. His research interests include microcontrollers, biomedical systems, and mathematical modeling of electromechanical systems. He is been a member of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers), ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), and ASEE (American Society for Engineering Education) and he has been a reviewer, presenter and a facilitator at national conferences.

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Abstract

Designing, Developing and Implementing an Entrepreneurship Program Monique Fuchs and Frederick F. Driscoll Wentworth Institute of Technology Boston, MassachusettsWentworth Institute of Technology introduced an innovation and entrepreneurial program calledAccelerate in May 2012 for students to turn their ideas into reality. The focus of the program wason the learning experience and for students from different programs to form collaborative teamsas they develop their ideas. All of Wentworth’s juniors and seniors are on campus during thesummer semester and we wanted to provide an entrepreneurial experience for them which wouldcertainly be different from their normal set of courses and allow them to apply their education totheir own startup. Since juniors and seniors represent about 35% of the total enrollment of theinstitute, we believed we had a student population from which some would be receptive to aninnovation and entrepreneurship challenge. Students who participated would became immersedwith innovation, business planning, risk taking, networking with mentors, alumni and theBoston/Cambridge venture community as well as strengthening their team building, criticalthinking and problem solving skills.The presentation will show how Accelerate was developed and its four phases – Kickstart,Develop, Build, and Takeoff and the support received by the local entrepreneurship community.We will also describe the student design ideas and the ten teams that pitched in the summer 2012semester to a panel of judges and the five teams that received funding to further develop theirideas and the positive publicity received in the Boston press. As this fall semester begins, asecond round of Accelerate’s innovation and entrepreneurship challenge has stated with 42 teamsand approximately 100 students submitting design ideas. We will show how innovation andentrepreneurship can change the mindset at a school that concentrates on engineering,engineering technology, computer science, management, architecture and design. In fourmonths, an entrepreneurship program was built for the students from the ground up and we willdescribe how it is now beginning to change the campus culture. In addition, we will describewhat has occurred, what is taking place during this academic year and the future plans forAccelerate.

Fuchs, M., & Driscoll, F. F. (2013, June), Designing, Developing and Implementing an Entrepreneurship Program Paper presented at 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--19398

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