→ Capstone Project Overview
- Get valuable real-world experience working with industry partners to build and implement a technical system.
- Apply what you learned in the classroom as a technical consultant, using your skills to clearly communicate underlying business problems and build the technical solutions.
- Receive guidance and mentorship from a dedicated faculty supervisor, and network with industry partners.
- Strengthen your portfolio and interview talking points with concrete examples of technical solutions you developed to solve an organizational problem.
What is the capstone project?
The capstone project is the cornerstone of the Master’s in Business Technology and Artificial Intelligence curriculum, giving students meaningful, hands-on experience working with real clients, applying technical skills, managing ambiguity, and delivering solutions that create tangible value for organizations. Alongside a team of their peers, students draw on the concepts and tools learned in the classroom to design and build a technical systems for industry partners. Students step into the role of technical consultant, learning to communicate effectively and build trust with their clients.
Capstone projects are often developed as proof-of-concepts, allowing students to create a vertical slice of the potential solution and explore the opportunities and constraints of a fully implemented solution. To increase project success, students are pushed to ensure that the technical system they create is relevant, impactful, and aligned with organizational needs. The experience gives students a strong addition to their project portfolio and provides real-world examples of their collaboration and problem-solving skills to cite in employer interviews.
“The capstone project gives students experience working with a company on a project so when they come out of this program, they’re ready to hit the ground running — which is important for employers.”
Vlad Collak, Founder and CEO of NewTide.AI, MS in Business Technology and AI Advisory Council Member
The Capstone Experience
What will I learn during the capstone project?
Students learn to understand and clearly articulate the business problem, explain why it matters, gather and implement requirements from stakeholders, and connect every technical decision back to the organization’s goals. Every student contributes technically to the project, while also having opportunities to practice roles such as business analyst, technical lead, or project manager.
Through the project, students gain experience in:
- Technical solution development
- Client relationship management
- Business analysis and requirements gathering
- Project management and team coordination
- Technical communication and storytelling
- Presenting solutions to business and technical audiences
- Giving and receiving constructive feedback
What support will I receive during the capstone project?
Students are supported throughout the project experience. The capstone faculty member serves as both mentor and industry liaison. They guide student teams through technical, business, and project management decisions while partnering with sponsoring organizations to identify projects that align with MSITM learning objectives and fit the semester timeline.
After the project kicks off, each sponsoring organization designates at least one primary contact who works with the student team weekly to provide business context, clarify requirements, and offer feedback. Many organizations also identify a technical expert to support students during system development. Guest speakers share industry perspectives, practical advice, communication strategies, and technical guidance to support students as projects begin.
Can I add the capstone project to my professional portfolio?
Yes, students are encouraged to include their capstone project work in their professional portfolios. The capstone provides concrete examples students can discuss during interviews, including how they applied technical skills, worked with stakeholders, solved ambiguous problems, collaborated in teams, and delivered business value.
The experience gives students more than technical talking points. It provides stories about leadership, communication, client management, problem-solving, and translating business needs into technical solutions — all of which are valuable during the recruiting process.
Capstone Project Examples
Explore how MS Business Technology and AI program graduates have worked with industry partners to develop AI-powered solutions to business problems. Students worked with companies across various industries — including tech startups, financial institutions, and education — to build products and platforms tailored to their unique needs. These are just some examples of what students have accomplished through their capstone experience.
Note that specific company names have been omitted from these examples to comply with non-disclosure agreements.
Enterprise AI-Powered Content Governance System
Students partnered with a global financial services firm to build an AI-enabled workflow that helps classify, tag, and manage unstructured enterprise content across platforms such as SharePoint, Teams, and file shares. The proof-of-concept supported metadata extraction, document classification, retention alignment, and governance reporting.
AI-Powered Financial Intelligence Assistant
Students developed a natural language financial intelligence agent that allows business users to ask questions in plain English and receive grounded, citation-supported answers from enterprise data sources. The solution combined a React interface, FastAPI backend, and multi-agent AI pipeline with SQL validation and confidence scoring.
AI-Enabled Policy Governance Dashboard
Students created a policy governance dashboard for a regional financial institution to automate the extraction and tracking of compliance requirements from policy documents. The solution used a RAG-based pipeline, cloud database, React dashboard, and embedded Power BI reporting to improve compliance visibility.
AI-Powered Competitive Fuel Price Monitoring Platform
Students developed a full-stack proof-of-concept platform that uses AI agents to collect, validate, and display competitor fuel pricing data. The solution helped automate a process that was previously manual, costly, and difficult to scale.
AI Cost Analytics & Pricing Simulation Platform
Students built a full-stack analytics dashboard for an AI technology startup to track the true cost of individual AI interactions. The platform combined LLM token costs, third-party API costs, and cloud infrastructure costs into a unified cost-per-interaction metric, with pricing simulation capabilities.
Market Activity Intelligence Platform
Students built a cloud-based lead intelligence platform for a regional community bank to identify commercial lending prospects using publicly available government records. The system automated data ingestion, cleansing, scoring, and visualization through an interactive Power BI dashboard.
Build technology with impact
The entire Master’s in Business Technology and AI curriculum — including the capstone project — prepares you to build, manage, and implement technology solutions to solve real business problems. You’ll graduate with the technical expertise and business acumen that employers need. Start the next step of your career with a Master’s in Business Technology and AI.
