Technology Management Education: Innovation and Entrepreneurship at MINES ParisTech, a Leading French Engineering School
Résumé
I highlight the design of a new specialization on innovation and entrepreneurship at a leading French engineering school by addressing four broad concerns: (1) How to develop a highly selective technology management and entrepreneurship specialization for students in an institutional and country environment traditionally resistant to the notion of entrepreneurship; (2) How to combine the acquisition of knowledge and the development of skills; (3) How to develop entrepreneurial skills and students' ability to take responsibilities; and (4) How to encourage imagination, creativity, involvement, and risk taking. In addressing these questions, a major challenge was to develop a distinctive learning method combining lectures, studies of start-ups and incubators, interviews with entrepreneurs and professionals, business plans, teamwork in creating new business ideas, project work, and in-depth involvement in an actual, 3-month entrepreneurial field study. All these educational activities exist at other institutions, but they have never been combined in a single program. The novelty of this program lies in this extensive mix and in the shift from classical teaching models to experiential-learning approaches.