Innovation in an Academic Setting: Designing and Leading a Business Through Market-Focused, Interdisciplinary Teams

The focus on entrepreneurship in business schools has never been stronger, however, preparing students for a career in developing new business innovations and ventures is challenging, and no shared set of "best practices" exist. Our purpose here is to describe efforts at developing a curriculum for entrepreneurship and to consider the role of academia in business commercialization. Central to our efforts is he development of an innovative capstone course in the MBA program at Carnegie Mellon University, offered jointly by faculty in the Tepper School of Business and the School of Design. The interdisciplinary course blends three perspectives needed for the effective commercialization of innovation: entrepreneurial thought, action, and leadership, design thinking, and team building.