Priorities:CSM Strategic Priorities

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Strategic Priorities for the Colorado School of Mines

Short-Term Strategy: Sparking Interest

Enable students by creating a collaborative space for creativity, design, and innovation.

Objectives:

1. Foster ideas, collaboration and creativity for students of all disciplines.

2. Create and sustain a culture of doing, making, innovation and entrepreneurship.

3. Promote learning by doing and providing resources to enable students to transform ideas into products that could be commercialized.

Many of the most forward thinking companies provide spaces for employees that encourage innovation. Well designed spaces often serve as catalysts for enhanced collaboration and innovation. We will create collaborative spaces for students that allows for greater creativity, design and innovation on campus. By holding events and meetings in the spaces, students across all disciplines will begin to use the spaces to work with others projects.

In addition to having a few dedicated spaces, there are many common areas that would make excellent pop-up spaces. We will provide guides and resources to students to successfully create a temporary collaborative space of their own anywhere on campus.

Brown Design Lab (not official name)

In collaboration with Professor Jered Dean of Mechanical Engineering, we will work to transform the Brown basement into a collaborative workspace for student projects, meetings, workshops and classes. The space has open hours allowing students from every major and grade level to collaborate on academic or personal projects.

betaversity

Bringing a betaversity betaspace or betabox to Mines would provide students with a modern prototyping space so students can apply their creativity and knowledge to develop innovative solutions. 

betaboxes can be configured in the following ways:

• Maker Package: 3D Printers, Laser Cutters, CNC's and more
• BioHacking Package: Gel Boxes, Stir Plates, and more
• Speed of Thought Package: duct tape, fuzzy wires and more
• Electrical Package: Arduinos, Raspberry Pi's, soldering, servos and more

Establish regular design, innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship (DICE) events

By collaborating with organizations and faculty across campus, we will hold events that expose students to proven concepts and principles that lead to truly innovative solutions. Having regular events will help foster a community of innovation and entrepreneurship that doesn't occur in a traditional lecture setting. 

Leveraging Existing Student Organizations to put on DICE events

There are many campus organizations that have the resources to organize successful DICE events to increase student opportunities to innovate. These events would include makeathons, hackathons, design challenges, business model competitions, and many more.

Problem of the Week

To change the student mindset on campus, we will start holding pop-up meetings in high traffic areas to discuss a "Problem of the Week." We can increase exposure to and engagement with problem-focused design by allowing students the ability to stop by and participate without any major commitment. The pop-up meeting can be expanded to allow for low resolution prototyping using arts & crafts or video. Images from the pop-up event will be posted online. The pop-up meeting will also serve as advertisement for other DICE events.

Design Weekend

Currently there is no coordination between EPICS and other design courses across campus to exhibit student projects and that needs to change. A campus-wide exhibition open to the community will provide students from all disciplines with the opportunity to showcase their projects and also strengthen the culture of design, innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship.

TEDx

Previously, University Innovation Fellows have seen success in improving the innovation and entrepreneurial landscape on their campuses by putting on a TEDx event. A lot of student interest in TED already exists and can be leveraged to make a successful event to serve as inspiration for the university. A TEDx can be focused on innovation and entrepreneurship to inspire a campus community by showcasing examples of innovative faculty research, successful entrepreneurial alumni and current students who have commercialized technology and achieved positive economic, societal and environmental impact.

3 Day Startup: 3DS Springboard 

3DS Springboard is an interactive workshop focused on the beginning steps of launching a company or a project through on-campus innovation. During four 90-minute sessions over one week, students will learn-by-doing with the 3DS team, Epicenter University Innovation Fellow leaders on campus, and other students in the community who are passionate about starting something!

Next Steps: Institutional Acceptance and Support for DICE

Update design classes to incorporate modern design & development principles

Most students attending Mines are exposed to design in EPICS I, EPICS II (including department specific EPICS II) and Senior Design. Only a few of the curriculums incorporate the following ideas/processes widely practiced in industry: design-thinking, problem focused design, rapid & low resolution prototyping, fast failure and lean principles. Incorporating all of these practices into the curriculum would properly prepare students to develop truly innovative solutions to real problems. The design courses can allow for more creativity and innovation by shifting from constraining projects to open-ended problem based projects. 

Grow and expand the academic entrepreneurship offering

According to the Undergraduate Bulletin, there is an “Area of Special Interest (ASI) in Entrepreneurship” that consists of 3 classes that are not currently offered.

To demonstrate that entrepreneurship is a priority to the University and the Department of Economics and Business, the ASI needs to be updated and promoted. There are several course offerings focused on design thinking and entrepreneurship that should be incorporated into a certificate program, minor or area of special interest for entrepreneurship.

Ideally the entrepreneurship program would incorporate a multidisciplinary senior design alternative course that allows students from any major to apply principles from the engineering and entrepreneurship curriculums.

Increase DICE exposure to Freshman & Sophomores living in residence halls

Mines requires all first year students to live on campus in the residence halls. Programs that promote design, innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship can be put in place for interested students living on campus. Mines has several themed learning communities and a community focused on DICE would have a large impact to create a sustainable culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.

Establish a speaker series for design, innovation and entrepreneurship

Creating a regular speaker series focused on design, innovation and entrepreneurship will develop interest as well as connect the entrepreneurial community around Mines to current students. Many Mines alum and faculty have relevant experience and insight to inspire a new generation of makers, doers and entrepreneurs. A series focused on I&E would be a multidisciplinary initiative that would have wide spread support across campus due to the universal nature of I&E principles.

Long-term Vision

Create a multidisciplinary design, innovation and entrepreneurship institute

The establishment of a multidisciplinary design institute will allow for the creation of a modern engineer that is equipped to develop solutions to complex real world problems. Having a design institute would make Mines the premier institution for engineering and applied science education.

Many of the nation's best engineering schools have a program or  institute for design, innovation or entrepreneurship:

Stanford - d.school
MIT - Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship
Harvard - Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard (TECH)
UC Berkeley - Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology
Michigan - Center for Entrepreneurship
Georgia Tech - Enterprise Innovation Institute
North Carolina State - Engineering Entrepreneurs Program EEP
Illinois - Technology Entrepreneurship Center 
CU Boulder - eship program

The Colorado School of Mines has the opportunity to become a national leader for design, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Related Links

Colorado School of Mines wiki Page

Colorado School of Mines University Innovation Fellow - Corey Brugh