(C-120) Promoting the Entrepreneurial Mindset in Medical Device Design Using Innovation-Corps as a Model for an Undergraduate Biomedical Engineering Course

Introduction:: Entrepreneurship and the development of the “entrepreneurial mindset” have emerged within the last two decades in the field of engineering education. Not only is entrepreneurship vital for the advancement of technology and economic growth, but it has also shown promise in helping to increase students’ skills and preparedness for entering the workforce after graduation when incorporated into engineering curriculum^1,2. To stimulate more entrepreneurial engagement, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently introduced similar programs called Innovation Corps (I-Corps), which are designed to lead small teams through customer discovery and business model validation during a seven- to eight-week bootcamp¹. These programs are primarily intended for graduate students and start-up business leaders, yet there is evidence of a need to engage students in entrepreneurial activities sooner in their education^1,2. In this study, we aimed to understand the effects of teaching entrepreneurship concepts to undergraduate engineering students using an I-corps model for the course structure.


Materials and Methods:: We developed a new Entrepreneurial Bioengineering elective course for junior and senior undergraduate engineering students that models various aspects of both I-Corps programs. The course introduces entrepreneurship, business model canvas, and lean start-up principles to the students with a focus on medical device customer discovery and technology commercialization. Students work in teams to form project ideas, interview customers, test business model hypotheses, and present their discoveries. To assess the outcomes of the course, we devised a survey that students took at the beginning and end of the semester. The survey consisted of open-ended and 5-point Likert scale questions focused on perceived entrepreneurial knowledge and soft-skill development. Pre- and post-semester surveys were compared for each student.


Results, Conclusions, and Discussions:: The Entrepreneurial Bioengineering course that we developed was found to have a significant impact on students. Survey responses indicated an increase in students’ perceptions of their entrepreneurial skills (Fig. 1A) as well as increased level of comfort with the entrepreneurial language after taking the course. The survey also showed that the course had a notable impact on students’ interview skills and their ability to understand and create value for those customers they interviewed (Fig. 1B). Open-ended responses supported these findings and suggested that students gained valuable skills from the course that they planned to apply in their future careers.

We have developed an I-Corps modeled course that provides an effective means of engaging students in entrepreneurship and helps to develop their entrepreneurial mindsets. Students have more entrepreneurial and business model knowledge, as well as increased confidence in their ability to interact with and create value for customers after taking the course. Continuing studies of this course aim to understand its long-term impact on students’ entrepreneurial mindsets and career goals as they carry forward their entrepreneurial skillset into senior capstone design projects.


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References (Optional): : 1. Pellicane, C., & Blaho, J., J Eng Entrep, 2016, 7. 2. Rameseder, G., et al, ASEE, 2017.