Knowledge in the field Innovation Management and Business Management.

The Course aims to introduce the subject of entrepreneurship as knowledge intensive and technology driven process for creating socio-economic value and supporting the regional growth. Starting from the comprehension of nature and trends characterizing the key enabling technologies, the course offers theoretical models and practical tools to innovate business existing and to create new entrepreneurial ventures.

Knowledge and understanding. At the end of the course, the students will develop a broad spectrum of basic knowledge related to the technological entrepreneurship as knowledge intensive process aimed to create socio-economic value from the exploitation of key enabling technologies as well as to understand patterns of entrepreneurial development high-tech and low-tech industries.

Applying knowledge and understanding. At the end of the course, the students will be able to identify areas of opportunities for the development of knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship in terms of creation of a new business and renewal of an existing business, to design a technological entrepreneurship roadmap, to evaluate the profitability of a technology intensive business.

Making judgements. The course develops within students the ability of independent judgment in the appropriate choice of revenue and business models, competitive and market exploitation strategies, exploration of technological solutions available for the development of an entrepreneurial venture.

Communication skills. The course provides students with the opportunity to develop effective communication skills by discussing business and technical presentations with a varied and composite audience having heterogeneous knowledge background, culture, and language. Besides, during the course, some visits nearby companies and seminars held by invited speakers are organized in order to support further the development of communication and interaction skills.

Learning skills. The course supports students to develop self-learning skills, in order to acquire the autonomy to deepen new topics that are related to the core contents of the course. This may happen during the discussion of case studies as well as during the development of the project works.

During the course, students will have the opportunity to contextualize the contents through case studies and seminars of industrial experts and manager.  A fundamental element of the learning path is represented by the project work that will see students organized in teams for practicing a technological entrepreneurial venture process by using the business model canvas and the guidelines of a venture business plan.

The exam consists of a written test. The project work will be also evaluated and will contribute to the final score. 

The Course is structured into 5 main learning modules with related sections:

• Technological Entrepreneurship: fundamentals and scenarios (1. WHY: The entrepreneurial economy and the key enabling technologies; 2. WHY: Entrepreneurship as key competence in the strategy Europe 2020; 3. WHAT: Technological Entrepreneurship glossary and introduction; 4. WHO: Technology Entrepreneurship Ecosystem - Model and Cases).
• Technological Entrepreneurship Roadmap (1. Distinguishing Traits of Technology Entrepreneurship; 2. The Roadmap of a Technological Entrepreneurship Project; 3. Desk Activities of Technological Entrepreneurship Project; 4. Pre-Market Activities of Technological Entrepreneurship Project; 5. Market Activities of Technological Entrepreneurship Project).
• From business model canvas to Business Plan (1. Defining Business models; 2. The pillars of business model canvas; 3. The link between business model and business plan; 4. Shifting form the business model design to business plan elaboration).
• Crowdsourcing & Crowdfunding (1. Crowdsourcing: definition; models and benefits; crowdsourcing vs outsourcing; Discussing successful cases of crowdsourcing; 2. Crowdfunding as a specific typology of crowdsourcing; the main typologies of crowdfunding).
• Technology Entrepreneurship in Emerging Regions.

Byers, T. H., Dorf, R. C., & Nelson, A. J. (2011). Technology ventures: from idea to enterprise. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Passiante, G., & Romano, A. (Eds.). (2016). Creating Technology-Driven Entrepreneurship: Foundations, Processes and Environments. Springer