QUT innovation space

Looking for more content on innovation, I came across a report on a entrepreneurship education (EE) program run by QUT (Collet & Roberts, 2014).

The report notes the need to:

1. "Evaluate the context of the type of EE program to be delivered and the student demand for the skills training ...
   
2. Create a community that builds on three dimensions: a physical space, a virtual environment and a network of mentors and partners.
   
3. Supplement the community with external partnerships that aid in delivery of skills training materials.
   
4. Ensure discovery of the community through the use of external IT services to deliver advertising and networking outlets.
   
5. Manage unrealistic student expectations of billion dollar products.
   
6. Continuously renew and rebuild simple activities to maintain student engagement.
   
7. Accommodate the non-university end-user group within the community.
   
8. Recognise and address the skills bottlenecks that serve as barriers to concept progression; in this case, externally provided IT and programming skills.
   
9. Use available on-line and published resources rather than engage in constructing project-specific resources that quickly become obsolete.
   
10. Avoid perceptions of faculty ownership and operate in an increasingly competitive environment.
    
11. Recognise that the continuum between creativity/innovation and entrepreneurship is complex, non-linear and requires different training regimes during the different phases of the pipeline. One small entity, such as the QIS, cannot address them all." From Collet and Roberts (2014, p. 5).
    

The most popular events were:

1. "Ideas & IP (workshop)
2. Pitching Practice (workshop series)
3. Thirsty Thursday (events)
4. Student Start-Up Night (events)
5. Design Thinking with Deloitte (workshops)
6. Story of a Start Up (guest speaker series)
7. Pitching Competitions (events/workshops)
8. Five day business course (course)
9. Innovation Boot Camp (two day introduction to entrepreneurship)
10. Open House (event/workshop/speaker series)"

From Collet and Roberts (2014, p. 39).

What is perhaps more interesting is exploring the activities which were not popular, as these could be ones which would be appropriate for an on-line course which complements the face-to-face activities. Detailed instructional design allows for the student to be taken through a learning experience which is not fun, like a workshop, but may be necessary for them.

 

Reference

Collet, C., & Roberts, J. (2014). The QUT innovation space: a trans-disciplinary learning environment for entrepreneurship education: final report. Retried from http://eprints.qut.edu.au/72840/