Priorities:University of Oregon Student Priorities

Overview

The University of Oregon innovation and entrepreneurship landscape canvas has many opportunities. With two very strong programs at the University, Product Design and Entrepreneurship, there is tremedous opportunity for crossover, collaboration and joint innovation. The biggest issue: how to integrate two fairly segregated disciplines. Design students excel in the product creation side, whereas entrepreneurs tend to excel in implementation (at least as observed at U of O). These two disciplines have alot to offer one another; it is just a matter of getting the right people together. Designers need to create a mindset that the design process does not end at final prototyping; it continues into implimentation. Furthermore, business students can learn a lot about the design process, iterative ideation and rapid prototyping. This is my mission as a UIF at the University of Oregon.

Strategy #1: Facilitate University Research-Industry Collaboration

Tactic 1: Connect Innovation Partner Services with faculty across campus

The Innovation Partner Services office (formally tech transfer) is responsible for managing and distributing intellectual property that has come out of the university. While it is important students are aware of this office, it is often more important that faculty are aware of the office and it’s functions, so that the office can have longer lasting ties with departments.  

Milestones

Spring 2016: Meet with IPS office to discuss what they think faculty would most want to hear about

Summer 2016: Meet with stakeholders in different departments and discuss their wants from IPS

Fall 2016: With IPS, hold a series of seminars with different departments where students and faculty can learn about intellectual property, and how to manage it

Tactic 2: Connect local industry leaders to university faculty and students

Innovations come from many people’s good ideas.  Sometimes you may not know an idea is useful unless you talk to people.  We would like to enhance communication between local industry leaders, students, and staff in order for people to talk about what they do, ideas they have, and problems they have.

Overview:To accomplish this, we would organize a symposia (or poster session)  for researchers (students and staff) to talk about their research.  Local industry leaders would be invited so that they could share their insight.

Milestones

Spring 2016: Identify and discuss idea with faculty in the physical sciences and produc design.

Summer 2016: Identify and discuss idea with industry leaders in the Willamette Valley and Portland area

Fall 2016: Secure funding from the various departments, and the office of innovation

Fall 2016:Find and secure venue

Fall 2016: Receive commitment from students and staff to participate, secure materials

Winter 2016:  Send invitations to industry and hold event

Strategy #2: Leverage coursework and projects to drive entrepreneurship and innovation

Students are already doing amazing things in the classroom. Finding and solving problems during each course. Unfortunately it is limited to the classroom. Even when a potential solution is found for a real world problem, it is left on the table and only used to satisfy course specific goals. Even worse is that the same problem is presented to each incoming class and then solved without using previous years work.

Tactic 1: Faculty and Staff involvement

Overview: Faculty are the individuals on the ground developing class content and assignments. However many faculty are unaware of the resources on campus and the potential of their classes for innovation. Entrepreneurship and innovation need to be factors that they consider when designing projects. This will require extensive conversation with faculty by the Innovation Fellows.

Milestones

Spring 2016: Identify courses with possible strong innovation focus and contact faculty.

Spring and Summer 2016: Meet with faculty to talk about innovation in class

Summer 2016: Persuade faculty to include a talk about innovation and include clause in projects with innovation potential. This clause would provide information about innovation on campus and how to finance or prototype their ideas (maker spaces or Spark Grants).

Fall 2016 - Spring 2017: Continue consulting with faculty on incorporating innovation/real world problems into projects and using previous classes work in future class.

Tactic 2: Student Awareness

Overview:Students themselve are the most powerful innovators on campus and are completing the classwork. Many students complete the classwork with the sole goal of finishing the class and may miss the real world applications along the way. This may also be because students are not aware that their are campus resources for them to take their ideas outside of the classroom. In some cases resources are not available to all students. This may be discouraging knowing that resources only become available at a senior level.

Spring 2016: Conduct research on student awareness of campus resources

Spring 2016: Brainstorm events to enhance visibility of campus resources to students

Fall 2016: Have campus resources placed in course materials (syllabus, project descriptions)

Fall 2016: Make current resources accessible to all students.

Strategy #3 Workshop Series to Teach Innovation and Entrepreneurship

In order to get more students to be interested in consistently coming to a workshop series to learn entrepreneurial skills we will use the effort of the students to solve a real world problem that students are passionate about or a focus on university research.

Tactic 1:  Develop a workshop series that will teach innovation and entrepreneurship by solving a real world problem

Overview: We want to determine what students are excited about in order to gain more support and consistant attendance.

Milestones:

Spring 2016: Have one workshop that will start brainstorming on issues that students would like to research

Spring 2016: Determine faculty that are in favor of this idea and could publicize the group in their classes

Spring 2016: Find a central space on campus that this event can be held

Summer 2016: Make a schedule for the 2016-2017 academic year

Tactic 2: Develop a workshop series that will teach innovation and entrepreneurship by focusing on commercializing research that is done on campus

Overview: This tactic will rely more on also getting faculty closely involved in the development of the series

Milestones:

Spring 2016: Have one workshop that will gauge interest in research performed on campus

Spring 2016: Determine faculty that are in favor of this idea and could publicize the group in their classes

Spring 2016: Find a central space on campus that this event can be held

Summer 2016: Make a schedule for the 2016-2017 academic year

Related Links

University of Oregon

Claire Sakaguchi

David Phillips

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