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Corps Teams (I-Corps™) curriculum, which is Given the importance of I&E and the universi-
designed to help NSF-funded researchers accelerate ty’s ever-increasing role in these areas, this special
innovation (from discoveries resulting from their issue of Technology and Innovation offers important
fundamental research) and to maximize the potential insights into university-based business accelerators,
for their new business ideas (7). novel educational programs and courses designed to
To appreciate the importance of I&E in driving support innovative and entrepreneurial activities,
economic growth and the role of universities in and innovation tools and models, among others.
advancing entrepreneurship, I urge the readers to Focusing on lessons learned in Columbia Uni-
read the small list of sources below. These articles versity’s five years of managing or co-managing
are self-explanatory, and I sincerely hope you enjoy accelerators in the medical, energy, and media sec-
reading them as much as I did tors, Byrd et al. compare and contrast the university’s
• http://www.investopedia.com/articles/ experiences in these disparate areas, including sim-
personal-finance/101414/why-entrepre- ilarities and differences in objectives, strategies,
neurs-are-important-economy.asp tactics, and organizational structure. Based on these
• http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/ experiences and lessons, the authors identify key
how-are-universities-grooming-next-great- points of consideration and best practices methods
innovators-180955792/ for universities looking to enter the accelerator arena.
• https://fuse.wustl.edu/innovation-entrepre- Domschke and Blaho detail an innovative master’s
neurship-higher-education/ degree curriculum created at the City University of
• https://www.uk-cpi.com/news/the-innova- New York that is based on the industrial Stage-Gate®
tion-process/ process. The Stage-Gate process is a well-known tool
• https://hbr.org/2013/05/why-the-lean-start-up- developed to help companies manage complex and
changes-everything often-difficult product development processes for
• https://venturebeat.com/2017/03/08/the-no- things like medical devices and drugs. By taking
excuses-culture/ Stage-Gate out of the business schools where it is
Finally, having been involved in I&E programs currently taught and incorporating it into the trans-
lational medicine master’s degree, they are able to
and initiatives for many years, I want to share a few equip engineers and scientists with the necessary
of my thoughts on what an individual must possess/ skills to carry out the key tasks of product develop-
exhibit to be an entrepreneur (8): ment, which, in turn, both lowers costs and boosts
1. HAVE THE MINDSET TO FOLLOW adoption of new products.
THROUGH Fossum et al. weigh in on the innovative edu-
2. BE RESILIENT, PATIENT, AND PER- cation discussion as well, focusing on Dartmouth’s
SISTENT PhD Innovation Program at the Thayer School of
3. NOT BE AFRAID OF FAILURE (NOT RISK Engineering. Because the program and the area are
AVERSE) new, they start off by offering some context as to why
4. BELIEVE IN EVIDENCE-BASED ENTRE- the program was created and to what end. In addi-
PRENEURSHIP tion, they draw some important conclusions about
how to best prepare engineering students to actively
5. BE WILLING TO GET OUT OF THE participate in technology transfer activities and thus
BUILDING AND INTERVIEW POTENTIAL make a positive economic and technological impact
CUSTOMERS nationally and globally, something they argue that
6. BE ABLE TO INFER KEY INSIGHTS FROM this program has been successful in doing.
CONVERSATIONS WITH POTENTIAL CUS- In addition to curricular considerations, there are
TOMERS other elements in the university that contribute to
7. BE WILLING TO PIVOT students’ innovative output. Shane Farritor focuses
8. BE A TEAM PLAYER on the importance of providing makerspaces for
students in order to promote innovation outside of
