U-M biz, engineering schools create graduate entrepreneurship program

The University of Michigan is creating one more synergy to help spin out more of its research into successful companies by having the university's College of Engineering and Stephen M Ross School of Business partner to offer a masters degree in entrepreneurship.

"This will provide not only an entrepreneurial mindset but will enable more tech transfer from the university to the private sector," says Doug Neal, managing director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the U-M College of Engineering.

The university already has a strong pipeline for turning cutting-edge technology into promising start-ups. Last year, almost 300 discoveries made at U-M went through the university's Office of Technology Transfer. That led to 153 patent applications and 10 spin-out companies. On top of that, 50 student-run companies have utilized the TechArb student business accelerator.

U-M officials would like to strengthen this pipeline with the new dual-school degree. The hope is that the new course of study will continue to create more synergies between the engineering and business schools, thus inspiring more entrepreneurs to spin out U-M technologies into companies.

"There has always been a close relationship between the College of Engineering and the Ross School of Business," Neal says. "We have had a number of partnerships in the past."

Source: Doug Neal, managing director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan College of Engineering
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.