THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2020/2021

Information in the Degree Programme Tables may still be subject to change in response to Covid-19

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : Business School : Common Courses (Management School)

Postgraduate Course: Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialisation (10 credit) (CMSE11384)

Course Outline
SchoolBusiness School CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits10 ECTS Credits5
SummaryThe aim of the class is to help students understand the unique challenges of building highly scalable technology-based new ventures. The course will focus on specific domains to help students uncover new opportunities and design business models with high growth potential. The class uses experiential techniques to help students gain skills in opportunity recognition, validation, and venture creation.
Course description The course aims to equip students with the principles of venture strategy, value proposition development, market analysis, and critical thinking necessary to design and grow new technology-based ventures. Each year the class will focus on a particular technology domain, such as FinTech, Internet of Things, or Big Data, to explore how to identify opportunities and design compelling business models and operational strategies in rapidly changing global markets. This is an experiential, interdisciplinary class in which student teams will consult with domain experts and speak with potential customers and investors to design new scalable business models and test their viability in evolving marketplaces.

Classes will be structured around lectures, guest presentations from industry experts, and group work. The course will bring together students from the Business School and other Schools to build on each other's skills and insights to develop competitive business ideas that can be used to apply to incubators or startup support schemes.

Topics of the class include, but are not limited to:

· Market Search and Customer Empathy

· Developing and Validating Solutions and MVPs

· Entrepreneurial and Technological Ecosystems

· Business Model Design and Innovation

· Sales and Marketing for Technology Startups

· IP and Legal Issues for Technology Focused Firms

· Financing and Pitching New Ventures

· Scaling and Exiting High Growth Startups
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2020/21, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  None
Course Start Semester 2
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 100 ( Lecture Hours 18, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 15, Summative Assessment Hours 40, Other Study Hours 25, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 0 )
Additional Information (Learning and Teaching) Independent preparatory reading for lectures and seminar series
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 90 %, Practical Exam 10 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Coursework -
Group report (40%) assesses Learning Outcomes 1, 2, 4 and 5
Individual report (50%) assesses Learning Outcomes 3

Practical assessment -
Group presentation (10%)
Feedback Not entered
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Understand and critically discuss scalable business model design strategies
  2. Articulate the unique challenges of developing scalable technology business models and ventures and be able to choose effective strategies to overcome themUnderstand how individual ventures fit within their larger technological and entrepreneurial ecosystem
  3. Understand how individual ventures fit within their larger technological and entrepreneurial ecosystem
  4. Gather and employ primary and secondary data sources to validate business models
  5. Conduct customer and end user interviews to identify customer pain points
Reading List
Byers et al (2014) Technology Ventures: From Idea to Enterprise. Mcgraw-Hill
Aulet (2013) Disciplined Entrepreneurship. Wiley.
Blank and Dorf (2012) The Startup Owner's Manual. K&S Publishing.
Ries (2011) The Lean Startup. Penguin.
Le Meuiner-FitzHugh and Tony Douglas. Achieving a Strategic Sales Focus. Oxford University Press.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Research & Enquiry:

Problem solving: identify, create, and evaluate options to solve complex problems to identify green and social venture opportunities

Critical Thinking: evaluate the usefulness and efficacy of different information sources and make judgements based on them

Independent research: conduct primary and secondary research enquiry into relevant issues through research design and the collection of qualitative and quantitative information

Personal Effectiveness

Commercial / Professional Situational Awareness: display commercial acumen and knowledge of current local and global business landscapes

Team working: Effectively perform within team environments and capitalise on individuals, different thinking, experience and skills

Enterprise and Entrepreneurship

Communication skills

Verbal communication and presentation

Influencing and negotiation skills

Written communication
KeywordsNot entered
Contacts
Course organiserMs Debbie Crompton
Tel:
Email: dcrompto@exseed.ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Lauren Millson
Tel: (0131 6)51 3013
Email: Lauren.Millson@ed.ac.uk
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