Overview

NYU-Poly as a school of engineering has developed a philosophy based on innovation, invention and entrepreneurship, captured by its motto, i2e. This is the motivation driving Poly’s culture both academically and socially. But as Poly transitions into full integration in the NYU network, current students and alums are yearning for outlets to express their i2e identity. And this is where the gap stems from: an unawareness of design, consulting, and innovation focused communities affiliated with NYU-Poly and opportunities for valuable professional experience through the use of creative problem solving methodologies to consult on real world problems.

To tackle this issue, I am proposing to develop and host an innovation consulting competition. This competition serves three key purposes. The first is to provide an environment that enacts the i2e philosophy of NYU-Poly, thus allowing NYU-Poly students to practice with real world projects while collaborating with students from other schools. Second, is to start framing a narrative around students building a tangible portfolio of work while offering corporate recruiters access to high profile talent. Lastly, the competition is a prototype that will expose NYU administration to the benefits of having a student innovation club and support the inauguration of the Greenhouse Collective (an innovation consulting group inspired by the Design Tinkering Club and the Greenhouse that is awaiting NYU approval and support).

Please click hyperlink to view the Prezi overview of my campus ecosystem.

Strategy #1: Share the Vision

Gap #1: A general unawareness of design, consulting, and innovation focused communities affiliated with NYU-Poly and opportunities for valuable professional experience through the use of creative problem solving methodologies to consult on real world problems.

Following are an array of strategies that will fully address Gap #1 over a 2-3 year period:

Tactic #1: Building the Innovation Community

Description: I will be focused on building synergistic relationships among NYU students, faculty, and innovation consulting firms. We can tap into the different student clubs to source for talent and spread the world about the upcoming competition. We seek support from existing faculty who champion innovation and entrepreneurship, and tap into their networks for insight, advice, resources, and key networks. Lastly, we reach out to top innovation consulting firms willing to work with us to build relationship between their recruiters and out students.

Team Leader: UIF Fellows with the help of our advisor, Anne-Laure Fayard.

Milestones:

Build an excel sheet called "People of Interest" (includes club leaders, key I&E people at NYU, and outside resources)
Connect and share the competition proposal, gage their interest.

Tactic #2: Competition (innovation consulting through interdisiciplinary teams)

Description: We host a cross-disciplinary innovation consulting competition that teaches teams on how to apply design thinking principles to address issues. The competition will be broken down into 3 milestone presentations that are focused on the business, design, or technical aspect of the project.

Team Leader: Me

Milestones:

Sponsorship/Supporting Partners secured
Showcases 1, 2, 3
Announcing 1st place Winner

Tactic #3: Networking

Description: As a part of the competition, the contestants will have a chance to meet and greet professionals and HR personnel in the innovation consulting industry. Each contestant will be given a handbook on company profiles, breaking into the industry, internship and entry-level opportunities, and a list of HR contacts.

Team Leader:TBD

Milestones:

Supporting partners and their HR people network and meet with contestants

Strategy #2: Build it and they will come!

Tactic #1: Greenhouse Collective

Description: Winners from the competition will join in the fight to bring the GC into existence as the pilot team. The GC will need support from the school in the form of personnel that will develop and implement the embodying culture for the Greenhouse.

Team Leader: Design Tinkering Club + Myself

Milestones:

Securing a Program Director
Completing a web portal to receive briefs, display completed projects, and featured partners
Manage outreach, community events, and leadership of the Greenhouse Collective

Strategy #3: Februray is a time for love and prototyping.

Tactic: Prototyping Month / 3D Week

After reassessing the landscape and existing infrastructure, I discovered that NYU & NYU Engineering was satuarated with competitions and semester-long challenges. With the collective insight of my advisor, Anne-Laure Fayard, we decided to focus on cultivating a culture of innovation by hosting a month-long series of pop up workshops at NYU Engineering's campus, particularly in the Greenhouse, a newly built collaborative workspace for students to congregate, explore their ideas, and find resources to make forward progress with their ventures.

NYU + NYU SOE:Two Strong Traditions, One Even Stronger Future

The community has become even stronger after the official merger of NYU and NYU-Poly. The resources available on campus have quadrupled which the students can tap into with ease.The merger has bridged the communication gap between two campuses so that students and faculty from various fields can interact and exchange thoughts efficiently. This cohesive environment has shown an accelerating impact on the groundbreaking research, Inventions and engineering projects that are coming out of this university.

The Pitch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMSYzpcZVKo&feature=youtu.be

Strategy 4: Makerspace on campus

After interviewing a lot of stakeholders at the university, it seems like one thing that could further enhance the current I & E ecosystem at the university is a makerspace. A space where students can get hands on experience with prototyping and others tools. Students can apply their in-class knowledge toreal-life. Conversely, student will be exposed to the latest, 'cutting-edge' technologies as they come out to ensure that the quality of our engineers matches the demand in the booming Brooklyn tech scene

NYU School of Engineering is in the initial stages building a makerspace for their community. Being an engineering school, this space would help foster creativity and design tinkering amongst students and faculty.

Tactics:

Recognize administrators and other stakeholders (students and faculty) at the university who are responsible/would be interested and connect with them.
Determine an ideal space on campus that could be useful for building makerspace.
Create a hardware hacking space, biomaterial hacking space, and a 'hacker's lounge' for various students to work on and discuss their ideas.
Seek for corporate partners from the city who would be interested. This would bring in projects for students.
Regular workshops for students.
Come up with some potential revenue streams.
Collaborate with the other entrepreneurial and innovative spaces on campus, for example: Incubators, Greenhouse, Leslie E lab, Magnet etc.
Host regular hack fests and invention contest.
Take technologically-adept students and pay them to mentor other students

Strategy 5: SPARK (Tentative Name)

Greenhouse is a home for ideation and collaboration at NYU-SOE managed by Professor Anne-Laure Fayard and the greenhouse guardians (Students). The space hosts occasional talks (Youth Cafe), skill shares and opportunities to meet with professionals from NYU-SOE incubators and industry. It provides a unique environment where students gain knowledge and learn the importance of design thinkering - Creative problem solving, Innovation and entrepreneurship unlike other spaces, which are focused on inventions/ growth of a startup.

The accelerating growth of the I & E ecosystem at the university has empowered the students engagement towards the activities hosted by Greenhouse. This clearly shows the increase in demand for such activities. Innovations fellows, Greenhouse guardians and Professor Anne-Laure Fayard will design a program, SPARK (Tentative name). SPARK would not only open doors for students with innovative ideas but also for those seeking to be design thinkers, innovative or entrepreneurial. SPARK will be designed to bridge all the spaces/resources available on campus and make it easier for students to tap into.

Tactics:

Recognize administrators and other stakeholders (students and faculty) at the university who are responsible/would be interested and connect with them.
Design well structured program where students gain overall experience in design thinking, innovation and entrepreneurship.
Open to students from all majors.
Curriculum courses: Credit incentives for students
Program creates synergy between the innovative spaces on campus. i.e enhances the current I & E ecosystem.

Strategy 6: i2e Showcase (Annual)

NYU School of Engineering students are constantly applying the i2e (innovation, invention and entrepreneurship) philosophy in our classrooms, competition, organization, workspaces, and career development opportunities. Campus resources have increased to a level where now students are overwhelmed or have no clue about where to start from.

i2e Showcase will be an annual event that will feature display of the most recent projects, Inventions, startups and innovative spaces on campus. A part of the showcase will be networking, where students can explore opportunities that might interest them. Sharing inventions and great project will inspire the students and also empower their engagement towards Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Tactics:

Recognize administrators and other stakeholders (students and faculty) at the university who are responsible/would be interested and connect with them.
Prepare a proposal to show administrators its importance to get permissions to make it an annual event.
Invite influencing projects, inventions and startups developing at the school to share their experience and story.
Tour-visit to the innovative spaces on campus.
Keep the event also open to public, that might bring in new projects for students to work on.