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Curriculum

The MSTC curriculum develops market strategies for real world technologies and innovations. The program culminates with teams formally presenting a final business plan to a panel of faculty, industry leaders, and venture capitalists.

TERM 1 – MARKET VALIDATION

9 credit hours

May–August

STC 380C Assessing Technologies And Innovations (3 credits)

The first step in the commercialization process is generating or identifying ideas and technologies that have market potential. Students apply multiple methodologies to assess the market potential of new ideas and technology.

STC 382 Marketing Technological Innovations (3 credits)

Taking a technology from idea to market requires persuasion and marketing skills. It starts with marshaling support to take a technology forward, moves on to matching technologies with market needs, and finally to launching a product or service. Students develop a persuasive proposal and marketing plan for taking a product to market.

STC 287 Venture Accounting (2 credits)

Building a strong financial foundation for a new venture requires understanding various accounting concepts, definitions, issues, and measurements in the preparation and interpretation of financial statements. Students develop skills to effectively analyze and create financial statements as a critical tool in decision-making for the venture. 

STC 183C The Art & Science Of Negotiation (1 credit)

Negotiating effectively with a variety of stakeholders and partners is critical to the process of technology commercialization. Students develop and sharpen their negotiation skills through the application of analytical frameworks in practical negotiation exercises. 

TERM 2 – PREPARING THE BUSINESS PLAN

12 credit hours

August–December

STC 384C New Venture Strategies (3 credits)

Technological innovation requires developing positioning and differentiation strategies for competing in the marketplace effectively. Students develop strategies for commercializing technologies as new ventures or within existing firms.

STC 395 New Venture Creation (3 credits)

Raising capital either from outside investors or internal corporate sources requires validating the market potential of the new technology, developing a business model, determining financial requirements, and communicating the opportunity convincingly. Students create a business plan to address these key elements.

STC 288 Financing New Ventures (2 credits)

Determining how much money is required and developing appropriate financial and fundraising strategies are critical in launching a new venture. Students prepare financial projections and develop and financial plan for funding a venture.

STC 294C Managing Product Development & Production (2 credits)

Accelerating the product development process is critically important to the successful launch of a technology based innovation.
Students develop a plan for taking an innovation from idea to a product ready for market.

STC 291C Technology Commercialization In The Global Economy (2 credits)

Technology commercialization in a global context requires assessing global markets and positioning for competitive advantage within them. Students develop a plan for commercialization a technology within a foreign market.

TERM 3 – OPERATIONS, LAUNCH PLANNING/GO-TO-MARKET STRATEGY

9 credit hours

January–May

STC 396 New Venture Design & Implementation (3 credits)

Launching a new venture or product requires setting forth operational roles and processes. Students develop a business implementation plan for a technology enterprise or project.

STC 385 Creative & Innovative Management (3 credits)

Successfully executing a new venture’s strategy depends on designing and leading an effective and efficient organization. Students apply critical reasoning techniques to develop their abilities to analyze, diagnose, and respond to organizational design and leadership issues in a new venture.

STC 386.2 Managing Technology & Business Risks (3 credits)

Understanding and mitigating risk are critical to the creation, implementation, and management of technology enterprises. Students learn decision and risk analysis, methods for structuring and modeling decision problems, and application of methods to problems that involve risk and uncertainty in the commercialization of new technologies.