EVANSTON, Ill. --- The Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University has established the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, designed to take engineering beyond the applications of the sciences to the creation of businesses that capitalize on innovations. The center will provide McCormick students and faculty with the skills to become successful entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs.

“Engineering is the application of the pure sciences,� says Julio Ottino, dean of the McCormick School. “Science often is incomplete, and engineering thinking has to fill the gaps. Innovation and entrepreneurship are techniques to deliver solutions to those who have a need for them. We are investing in this area by providing additional coursework and a structure to coordinate related activities across the University.�

McCormick is well positioned to establish a new standard for engineering education by retooling many of its existing programs with a greater focus on innovation and entrepreneurship. “Design think� -- a concept already widely embraced at McCormick -- will be greatly enhanced when students learn how they can grow existing businesses (intrapreneurship) or create new businesses (entrepreneurship).

The Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI), headquartered in the Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center, will focus on interdisciplinary curriculum development; empowerment of students, faculty and alumni to think and work innovatively; corporate and community outreach; and research. The center's director, Michael Marasco, has more than 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur, intrapreneur and innovation consultant.

“We saw the need to develop a structure that will support the expansion of our undergraduate and graduate curriculums to include more exposure to innovation and entrepreneurship. We want to bring together students, faculty and alumni with interest in these areas,� said Marasco, who also is a clinical associate professor of industrial engineering and management sciences at Northwestern.

One of the first initiatives coordinated by the center is a new academic partnership, NUvention, that will expand Northwestern's tradition of interdisciplinary study by developing new experimental courses that allow students to become entrepreneurs within a class setting. Alumnus Edward Voboril, chairman and former chief executive officer of Greatbatch, the medical device company that invented the pacemaker, is chair of the NUvention program.

The partnership's first course, a two-quarter course called “Medical Innovation,� begins this fall, drawing students from four Northwestern schools -- McCormick, the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University School of Law and Feinberg School of Medicine -- who are interested in turning ideas into new medical technologies. The course was developed through the active involvement of a new student organization focused on entrepreneurship, InNUvation.

“As an entrepreneur, I think these types of educational opportunities are critical,� said Voboril, an adjunct professor of biomedical engineering in the McCormick School. “Often would-be entrepreneurs lack the knowledge of business processes. This class will allow students to gain real experience without risks.�

In addition to Voboril and Marasco, the other key faculty and administrators behind NUvention are Patrick McCarthy, M.D., chief of cardiothoracic surgery, Thomas Schnitzer, M.D., professor of medicine, and David Johnson, associate dean for research operations, all in the Feinberg School; Alicia Loffler, director of the Kellogg Center for Biotechnology, Kellogg School; and Clinton Francis, professor of law, School of Law.

Student involvement in entrepreneurship at Northwestern is high, as evidenced by two popular events held last spring. “Applied Research Day,� supported by CEI, drew more than 40 students who shared their entrepreneurial research with fellow students, faculty, venture capitalists and industry. And NU Venture Challenge, a campus-wide business idea competition sponsored by McCormick alumnus Robert Shaw, attracted nearly 200 applicants.

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