Building a Curriculum in Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Technology Management at UMass Amherst

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Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

The University of Massachusetts Amherst is launching a new program in Technology Management, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship (TIE). NCIIA funding sustains the first of a two-course foundation sequence for a three-year time span. The goal of the first course is to serve as an introduction to systematic innovation and entrepreneurial skill, thinking, and practice, providing a foundation of conceptual skills, technical content, and experiential understanding essential to effective innovation and entrepreneurship. The follow-up practicum course supports the development of E-Teams and provides core skill content such as business plan development, fundraising, and market research.

A key complementary component to the course is the student-run UMass Five College EntreClub, which was the prototype for the NCIIA publication “The EntreClub Handbook.”