Entrepreneurship & Innovation
for the graduate concentration in Entrepreneurship & Innovation (on campus & online)
The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Concentration provides students with the skills, resources, and experiences necessary to become successful innovators, entrepreneurs, and leaders who tackle grand challenges to change the world.
The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Concentration requires students to complete 12 credit hours of core and elective courses. Participating departments will be responsible for defining how credits from this concentration apply to the student’s graduate degree. Students must be enrolled in an eligible engineering graduate degree program from one of the participating departments.
Students must be enrolled in one of the following graduate degree programs:
- Aerospace Engineering, BS-MS
- Aerospace Engineering, MS (on campus & online)
- Aerospace Engineering, PhD
- Agricultural & Biological Engineering, MS
- Agricultural & Biological Engineering, PhD
- Bioengineering, MEng
- Bioengineering: Bioinstrumentation, MEng (on campus & online)
- Bioengineering: General Bioengineering, MEng (on campus & online)
- Bioengineering, PhD
- Bioengineering, MS
- Bioinformatics: Computer Science, MS
- Biomedical Image Computing, MS (on-campus and online)
- Chemical Engineering, MS
- Chemical Engineering, PhD
- Civil Engineering, MS (on campus & online)
- Civil Engineering, PhD
- JP: Computer Science, BS & MCS
- JP: Computer Science, BS & MS
- Computer Science, MCS (on-campus, in Chicago & online)
- Computer Science, MS
- Computer Science, PhD
- Electrical & Computer Engineering, MEng (on campus & online)
- Electrical & Computer Engineering, MS
- Electrical and Computer Engineering, PhD
- Engineering: Aerospace Systems Engineering, MEng (On campus & Online)
- Engineering: Autonomy and Robotics, MEng
- Engineering: Chemical Engineering Leadership, MEng (on campus & online)
- Engineering: Energy Systems, MEng (on campus & online)
- Engineering: Instrumentation and Applied Physics, MEng
- Engineering: Plasma Engineering, MEng (On campus & Online)
- Environmental Engineering in Civil Engineering, MS (on campus & online)
- Environmental Engineering in Civil Engineering, PhD
- Industrial Engineering, MS (on campus & online)
- Industrial Engineering, PhD
- Materials Science & Engineering, MS
- Materials Science and Engineering, PhD
- Mechanical Engineering, MEng (on campus & online)
- Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering, MS
- Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering, PhD
- Physics, MS
- Physics, PhD
- Systems and Entrepreneurial Engineering, MS
- Systems & Entrepreneurial Engineering, PhD
- Teaching of Physics, MS
for the graduate concentration in Entrepreneurship & Innovation (on campus & online)
The concentration in Entrepreneurship and Innovation requires students to complete 12 credit hours from a list of select courses and to earn a B or higher in each course. Participating departments will be responsible for defining how credits from this concentration apply to the student’s graduate degree.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Core Courses | 6 | |
| Lectures in Engineering Entrepreneurship | ||
| Technology Entrepreneurship | ||
| Technol Innovation & Strategy | ||
| Elective Courses | 6 | |
Students may select a different elective course in consultation with their Advisor and the Technology Entrepreneur Center. | ||
| Startups: Incorporation, Funding, Contracts, & Intellectual Property | ||
| High-Tech Venture Marketing | ||
| Advanced Creativity | ||
| Finance for Engineering Mgmt | ||
| Venture Funded Startups | ||
| Total Hours | 12 | |
Other Requirements
| Requirement | Description |
|---|---|
| A minimum of 4 500-level credit hours. | |
| Minimum GPA: | 3.0 |
| Participating departments will be responsible for defining how credits from this concentration apply to the student’s primary program of study. |
for the graduate concentration in Entrepreneurship & Innovation (on campus & online)
Learning objectives for the Graduate Concentration in Entrepreneurship and Innovation are designed to provide students in engineering graduate programs the skills and resources necessary to become successful innovators, entrepreneurs, and leaders in industry positions. This concentration will allow students to build a solid foundation of business practices and gain an entrepreneurial mindset.
By the end of this program, students will be able to:
- Demonstrate growth of their entrepreneurial mindset and ability to use various tools for innovation.
- Understand and evaluate various professional opportunities in innovation and entrepreneurship, including through new venture creation, within industry, and in research. Identify the critical importance of entrepreneurial endeavors to the world’s economy (employment, technology advancement, societal development, etc.) and understand how experience in entrepreneurship can form a foundation for other career opportunities.
- Identify opportunities for innovative ideation and apply an entrepreneurial process to implement these ideas in order to create impact and provide value.
- Utilize critical factors necessary for the development of technology-based ventures including opportunity assessment, the entrepreneurial process, a business plan, funding, team formation, and ethical responsibility.
- Evaluate how firms create, commercialize, and capture value from technology-based products and services, and then sustain their success as technology changes and evolves around them.
- Effectively communicate technical problems and solutions as well as their value and impact to a variety of stakeholders and diverse audiences.
for the graduate concentration in Entrepreneurship & Innovation (on campus & online)
Visit the Graduate Concentration Application page for details on the application process.
for the graduate concentration in Entrepreneurship & Innovation (on campus & online)
Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program
Program Director: Ranjitha Kumar
Program Faculty Advisor: Keilin Jahnke
Program Academic Advisor: Laura Miller
351 Coordinated Science Lab, 1308 W Main St, Urbana, IL 61801
(217) 244-3124
Program email: tec-ilee@illinois.edu
Technology Entrepreneur Center
Technology Entrepreneur Center website
Technology Entrepreneur Center Faculty
Grainger College of Engineering
Grainger College of Engineering website