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Engineering Entrepreneurship A Killer App For Systems Engineering?

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Conference

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Chicago, Illinois

Publication Date

June 18, 2006

Start Date

June 18, 2006

End Date

June 21, 2006

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Entrepreneurship Education - A 10,000' View

Tagged Division

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

Page Count

13

Page Numbers

11.559.1 - 11.559.13

DOI

10.18260/1-2--487

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/487

Download Count

472

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Paper Authors

biography

Wade Shaw Florida Tech

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Dr. Wade H. Shaw, P.E. is Professor of Engineering Systems in the Department of Engineering Systems at Florida Tech. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and in 2000 was awarded a Millennium Medal for his contributions to the field of engineering management. He is currently an Editor in Chief of the IEEE Engineering Management Review.

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biography

Muzaffar Shaikh Florida Tech

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Dr. Muzaffar A. Shaikh is Professor and Head of the Department of Engineering Systems at Florida Tech. Dr. Shaikh spent nearly nineteen years in industry, before he joined Florida Tech in 1987. Dr. Shaikh is an associate editor of the INCOSE System Engineering Journal and the North American editor of the Business Process Management Journal.

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Carmo D'Cruz Florida Tech

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Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

Engineering Entrepreneurship: A Killer App for Systems Engineering ? Carmo D’Cruz, Muzaffar Shaikh, Wade Shaw Florida Tech, Melbourne, Florida 32901

Abstract

Engineering Entrepreneurship, Engineering Management and Systems Engineering courses offered by the Department of Engineering Systems at Florida Tech have greatly enriched the students’ educational experience, broadened their perspectives, served as community outreach forums and integrated experiential learning with academic programs. Students work in E-teams and write NCIIA proposals to commercialize innovative product or university/research lab developed technology.

This paper describes a unique course series in Systems Engineering (SE) Entrepreneurship. Innovation in product/service design and commercialization that enables entrepreneurship can be successfully leveraged by applying SE principles/ techniques which parallel entrepreneurship steps such as Customer Requirements Engineering and opportunity recognition; Project/Quality Engineering, Decision/Risk Analysis, Systems Modeling, Engineering Economics and business planning, Systems Integration and business plan development, Systems Launch considerations and product/business launch, etc. Concepts in strategy, team dynamics, and finance are integrated into these courses focusing on Engineering Entrepreneurship. It appears that Engineering Entrepreneurship has emerged as a Killer App for Systems Engineering.

Introduction

The emerging facts from successful organizations, including universities, indicate that the real source of power in a knowledge economy is in combining technical prowess with entrepreneurship.1 A survey of business executives and managers indicated that highly successful engineers are not only academically astute, but also possess entrepreneurial skills.2 The Engineers of 2020 will need to be educated as innovators, with more direct exposure to cross- disciplinary topics and the workings of an entrepreneurial economy.3 However, engineering schools have been slow to incorporate entrepreneurship courses into the technical programs.

A common complaint heard from most high tech entrepreneurs is that their entrepreneurial projects always take more than 2X the time, 2X the money and 2X the resources than what they planned for at the outset.4 It has been observed that most successful high tech and serial entrepreneurs have a systems engineering approach to their entrepreneurial ventures.5 The economy in which the Engineers of 2020 will work will be strongly influenced by the global marketplace for engineering services and a growing need for interdisciplinary and system-based approaches.6 While meeting the increasing demand for holistic, interdisciplinary education, innovative courses offered by Florida Tech’s Department of Engineering Systems have greatly enriched the students’ educational experience, broadened their perspectives, served as community outreach/ networking forums and integrated experiential learning with academic programs.

Shaw, W., & Shaikh, M., & D'Cruz, C. (2006, June), Engineering Entrepreneurship A Killer App For Systems Engineering? Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--487

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