MS in Technology Commercialization

Students are required to take eight 3 quarter-hour academic courses and four 4 quarter-hour venture courses, for a total of 40 quarter hours.

Organized into cohorts of approximately 20 students, students will take two academic and one new venture development course per quarter in order to complete the program in one year. Students must complete the program with their cohort.

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
(click here for a PDF of all course descriptions)

ACADEMIC COURSES
Business Fundamentals for Entrepreneurs
(TCM 6010/3 q.h.)
Designed to provide students with an introduction to fundamental business practices for entrepreneurs. Subject areas are presented in the sequence that an entrepreneur starting a technology-based company might need them.

Project Planning and Scheduling
(PJM 6010/3 q.h.)
A well-thought-out and well-managed schedule is critical to successful project management. Students will learn effective operations research tools and techniques that will allow project managers to translate specifications to realistic project plans, minimizing bottlenecks and downtime. Students will also learn to identify and plan for resource needs, develop contingencies, and manage risk and scope creep.

Intellectual Property Law and Management
(TCM 6030/3 q.h.)
Protecting an organization's intellectual property rights in this age of innovation is crucial to an organization's ability to survive. Students will learn to protect their organizations from losing their right to intellectual property by understanding the legalities involved and proper management. Students will examine trademark, copyright, and patent law, as well as the legal remedies available for violations. Fair-use and the assignment of property rights will also be examined, along with managerial strategies employed to protect and capitalize on intellectual property.

Accounting for Technology Startups
(TCM 6040/3 q.h.)
This course examines the new and growing topic of accounting for new product development and its influence on project selection, product design, and later profitability. Topics include managerial and financial accounting, accounting for new product development, accounting for manufacturing and project costs, and business numbers.

Elements of Financing a Business
(TCM 6060/3 q.h.)
The first part of this course covers the special issues of entrepreneurial finance when moving towards commercialization in high-tech settings. These special situations arise because the length of time a startup is in the R&D stage may require years before any revenue is generated. In this context, students will learn about cash flow analysis, budgeting, and crunching the numbers. The second part of this course covers the various avenues entrepreneurs can use to raise money.  These include angels, venture capital, banks, and friends and family. Topics also included are exit strategies, pro-formas, and writing a financial plan.
Pre-Requisite: Accounting for Technology Startups (TCM 6040/3 q.h.)

Entrepreneurial Marketing
(TCM 6070/3 q.h.)
This course examines the marketing issues facing the creation of a new business and reviews how entrepreneurs create or discover new business ideas and test whether they are reasonable through opportunity assessment. Also covered is general marketing in a high-tech context by covering topics such as going to market, pricing, and advertising.

Managing a Technology-based Small Business/SBU
(TCM 6090/3 q.h.)
This course covers the issues of managing a small business or strategic business unit within a corporation. The special issues of managing a technology-based startup will be considered. Topics will include: creating a team, creating a culture, hiring/firing/incentives/reporting, operations, boards/advisors/managing up, dealing with suppliers, managing a crisis, supply chain, and writing an operating plan.

Leading Teams
(LDR 6110/3 q.h.)
The team is the unit of an organization where most leaders begin to develop influence skills. A team can be defined as a group of individuals whom you directly manage or those whom you influence on a project basis. Leading teams involves managing different personalities, cultures, conflicting political agendas, and varying skill levels. Through participating in and observing team dynamics, students will determine the principles of building highly effective teams. The pragmatic approach used in this course combines learning through classic case situations with experiences in leading team-based activities.

VENTURE COURSES
New Venture Development 1: Starting a New Technology Venture
(TCM 6020/4 q.h.)
This laboratory course will be the first in a series of capstone courses for the program. Working through a prescribed series of steps with the aid of a faculty advisor, students will be required to develop a technology concept into a plan that can be presented to potential investors. In New Venture Development 1, using student generated ideas as input, project development teams will be formed and a high level project plan will be developed. A series of seminars will be offered on competitive product strategies for selected vertical industries.

New Venture Development 2: Building a Prototype
(TCM 6050/4 q.h.)
In New Venture Development 2, students are required to produce a means to evaluate their product concept through a prototype or some other means by either working with their engineering partner or through their own technical work.

New Venture Development 3: Customer Evaluation
(TCM 6080/4 q.h.)
In New Venture Development 3, the product concept is tested with customers and modified according to feedback.

New Venture Development 4: Developing a Business Plan and Investor Presentation
(TCM 6100/4 q.h.)
In the last of the New Venture Development courses, a detailed business plan is produced and presented to a group of investors.  At the end of their New Venture Development work, students will have produced a prototype, business plan, and an investor presentation.