Integrating Entrepreneurial Projects Into A Successful Multidisciplinary Capstone Design Program At The University Of Florida

The University of Florida Integrated Technology Ventures (ITV) program is designed to provide engineering and business students with an intense, immersive entrepreneurial experience. The ITV program builds upon successful UF industry interaction model programs such as the Integrated Product and Process Design (IPPD) program, where multidisciplinary student teams design and build industry-sponsored products; the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI), the Office of Technology Licensing (OTL), and two university supported technology start-up incubator facilities. The students learn the entrepreneurial process as members of a virtual technology start-up company led by a so called “serial” entrepreneur—a technology venture start-up specialist—who serves as a CEO. The company is composed of the CEO, a business development team of 2 to 5 MBA students (coached by entrepreneurial faculty) and a multidisciplinary technology development team of 6 undergraduate engineers (coached by engineering faculty). The company is supported by a variety of commercialization specialists and local technology incubators. The technology development team participates in the two-semester IPPD course, which has been supplemented with an Entrepreneurship Lecture series. The company is responsible for creating an alpha system prototype and collateral materials such as a business plan and presentation for entry in academic business plan competitions. Three pilot entrepreneurial teams were chartered in the initial offering. The initial virtual companies are centered on patented technologies in the diverse areas of passive ground water contamination flux monitoring, large animal health monitoring, and respiratory muscular system training. Funding for these projects has been secured through the Economic Development Administration, the Lemelson Foundation (via the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance), and the University of Florida.