Entrepreneurship, Transformative Innovation & Design (ENT)

Provides a foundational knowledge of entrepreneurship and innovation, creation of new ventures, the history and evolution of entrepreneurship, and its revolutionary impact today from an affective perspective. Students see diverse pathways to becoming a social, business, or environmental entrepreneur. Students survey principles, theories, and practice of entrepreneurship with an understanding of the key tasks, skills, and attitudes to become successful. Springs and Falls.

Design Thinking is an approach to envisioning entrepreneurial opportunities. Students learn to identify potential product or service offerings and practice using design tools/techniques to conceptualize and validate prospective opportunities. Lean business planning, emphasizing “failing fast,” and reorienting business resources is explored, with the goal of illustrating the most effective approaches entrepreneurs may take to creating and building new businesses. Springs and Falls.

Working in teams, students practice entrepreneurial skills to create, organize, and manage a project with social impact, either globally or locally. The overall goal is to take entrepreneurial action to improve quality of life and economic well-being through service organizations in fields as diverse as the environment, animal rights, health, and community building. Springs and Falls.

Entrepreneurs start companies and provide new solutions/value to people across diverse markets. After successfully launching a startup, entrepreneurs must shift from “doers to leaders”—planning their company’s growth and ongoing success. Students work with and evaluate a series of frameworks, analytical techniques, and decision-making tools that professionals use to grow and sustain their businesses. Springs and Falls.

Prerequisite(s): ENT 2040 or BU 2040 and ENT 2460 or BU 2460.

Businesses increasingly invest in innovation. This course challenges students to explore business innovation, design thinking, effective teamwork, startup businesses and change models. Using case studies, students consider and analyze successful and failed innovation initiatives, including business startups. A capstone project requires teams to conceptualize a new product or service and propose how to bring the concept to life. Springs and Falls.