When Intel Corporation decided it wanted to accelerate
the rate of innovation and economic growth in key markets
around the world, they knew they were undertaking a
significant challenge. They needed to find a high leverage
means of impacting a broad spectrum of society in a
focused way. Based on their previous success with technical
and engineering education, Intel, the world's largest
chip maker, undertook a study to find college programs
and curricula in entrepreneurship which could form the
basis for a new and exciting dimension to the traditional
curriculum. Their search led them to the Haas School's
Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. “[Intel]
came to us and said,
'We want to transform entrepreneurship education around
the globe. After researching all the best programs,
we have selected yours,” said Jerry Engel, executive
director of the Lester Center. “Initially, we knew this
would be an important and meaningful endeavor, but frankly
we had no idea how profound an impact it would have
on the participants, and on us!”
The Lester Center's approach combines rich classroom
education with reality based experience. In bringing
this type of innovation to educational programs worldwide,
Intel hopes to increase the rate of technical innovation
and commercialization, thereby contributing to economic
vitality and wellbeing.
“Intel is a global enterprise, with global concerns.
Based on our own entrepreneurial roots, we believe that
enhancing the rate of technology innovation and commercialization
globally is important. The rate of entrepreneurial innovation
that we witnessed during the early days of the Internet
showed us what was possible,” said Mark Harris, Intel's
director of the Technology Entrepreneurship program.
“We asked, 'How do we get this innovation going again?'...
It became clear that Berkeley and Intel had very similar
ideas around the opportunity for technical entrepreneurs.”
The Lester Center has been working with Intel for nearly
a year to bring the Theory to Practice entrepreneurship
training to educators worldwide. Since last August,
seminars have been conducted in Dublin, Madrid, Amsterdam,
Gdansk, Budapest, Sofia, Mumbai, Bucharest, Istanbul,
Cairo and Moscow, with others planned for Beijing, Sao
Paulo, and Monterey [Mexico]. The two day sessions,
each with 20 participants from leading local colleges
and universities, provide a highly leveraged and efficient
way of enhancing the entrepreneurship training to their
respective institutions. The seminar participants have
also found the sessions helpful in forming on-going
collaborations among themselves and their institutions.
During the seminars, participants learn how to create
unique entrepreneurship programs appropriate for their
respective university. Topics include entrepreneurship
teaching methods, curriculum design, how to work with
real businesses, and, moreover, create an ecosystem
that supports entrepreneurship. These early sessions
have had rave reviews.
"This course has made me think of entrepreneurship
education in a new light," wrote one participant from
India on the course feedback form. Another from Hungary
wrote, "These two days are one of the most valuable
days in my professional life."
