Technical Entrepreneurship (TE) through Integrated Product Development (IPD)

Professor John B Ochs, Ph D

Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA

NCIIA Open 2012

Lehigh’s IPD Program

• Started in 1994 • 18 years of a not-so-quiet revolution in

education• Truly interdisciplinary in students &

faculty– business, design arts, engineering,

education• Pre-college through graduate• Collaboration with industry throughout

– planning– projects– sponsorship

• Aims to create an environment for fostering student technology entrepreneurs

IPD Program Tenets

• Innovation, fueled by creativity, is an important economic development engine

• The greatest opportunity for innovation occurs at the intersections of disciplines

• Innovation is a process that can be imitated by experiencing it.

• The greatest chance for economic success comes from a diverse interdisciplinary globally-oriented team experiencing an innovation process.

• Entrepreneurs are needed to lead these teams, assess the opportunity, take on the risks, manage the development process and find the resources needed to launch the new ventures.

It is our vision to create and foster an environment, culture and community that is imaginative, creative, innovative, diverse, interdisciplinary, experiential and globally oriented, morally and ethically grounded, technologically savvy and entrepreneurially focused.

Our Program Vision

Educational Approach

• Use cross disciplinary teams and develop teamwork experience

• Seek alumni and industry sponsorship and help

• Provide opportunity for student entrepreneurs

• Guide teams through a IPD process• Emphasize the experience with

outcomes needed but of secondary importance

• Emphasize modeling and simulation

• Emphasize prototype development• Emphasize oral & written

presentation skills

Product DevelopmentMethodology

• Encourage Student Entrepreneurs through campus-wide “Student Entrepreneur’s Competition”

• Team with local startup companies and alumni

• Industry sponsors for product and process improvement

• Follow the IDEO “Deep Dive” process• Use truly multi-disciplinary teams• Use faculty as “guides on the side”• Encourage risk taking – “wow” effect• Learn from and publish failures• Rely on extensive support infrastructure–

labs & staff

Innovation Engine Manufacturing

Products

Revenues

Investment in Innovation

Other Purposes

People and businesses invest in new products because the expected yield in long term growth and profits is greater than other alternatives

Pay

ing

Cu

stom

ers

Innovation is the economic engine driving the creation of societal wealth

IPD Overview: Level #1

Services

Product Development

Manufacturing Development

Market Development

Market Introduction

Project and Process Management

Documentation and Data Management

Sales, Service & Support

Manufacturing Ramp-upConceptual

Design & Product Planning

Opportunity Scanning

1 23

3

IPD Overview: Level-2

4

5

3

4

8

IPD Tasks & Deliverables

• Company & Industry Research

• Customer needs• Competitive

benchmarks• Target markets• Marketing

strategies• Target pricing• Target

specifications & constraints

• Concept generation/ selection

• Detailed Design description

• Prototype design & development

• Prototype testing • Production planning• Market Planning• Cost & cash flow

analysis• Value statementOral & poster briefings & written reports

IPD Capstone Project Statistics

• >200 Industry Sponsors• >1500 students in over 175 project teams• 2011 Capstone Courses: 30 teams and 193

students• Average of 13 faculty advisors per year• Projects from a) companies, b) local

entrepreneurs, c) student entrepreneurs• Contacts made through Lehigh’s Career

Services, Corporate Relations, Alumni, SBDC & Ben Franklin Center

• 13 CONSECTUTIVE YEARS of NATIONAL WINNERS for student technology entrepreneurship: NCIIA E-team and program development grants $13K-$25K

Powerhouse: Entrepreneurial Student Project Center

Thank you!

For more information go to:www.lehigh.edu/ipd/

www.lehigh.edu/innovate/

www.lehigh.edu/entrepreneurship/