About the Digital Entrepreneurship & Innovation Cluster
Total number of credits in this cluster: 9
The Digital Entrepreneurship & Innovation (Digital E&I) cluster prepares a student to harness digital technologies and digital business models to develop their own concepts into commercial concerns or to contribute to the innovation activities of existing organizations (i.e., intrapreneurship). The Digital E&I cluster focuses on the impact of Information Technology (IT)-driven innovation across multiple industry sectors including for profit, non-profit and governmental organizations. IT-driven innovation has created new business opportunities for both entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs and is key to increasing efficiencies and expanding the linkage between user-centric products and services. Students who complete this cluster will gain a foundational understanding of emerging information technologies, the components of digital business models, and implementation and design techniques that meet or exceed user-centric requirements.
Students who complete this cluster develop skills and knowledge in four areas:
- Recognize and describe the unique aspects of IT-driven business models, the architectures that support them, and the challenges of funding and scaling such models.
- Describe and provide concrete examples of 1) the strategic, operational, structural and cultural aspects of a digitally-based enterprise; 2) the intellectual property and competitive advantage of digitally based enterprises; and 3) the role of technology in supporting activities in these enterprises.
- Identify current and emerging Internet and mobile technologies and the role that these systems play in supporting digital entrepreneurship and innovation; and the architecture, development and testing of the systems or innovations.
- Develop, refine, test, and assess the effectiveness of digitally-based innovation concepts and present them to potential funders and other interested audiences.
Preferred Sequence of Courses for the Cluster
The Digital E&I cluster in the ENTI minor includes three courses worth a total of 9 credits. All students in the minor also take three core courses.
| Core Courses #1 and #2 | Credits | Semester |
|---|---|---|
| MGMT/ENTR 215 Entrepreneurial Mindset | 3 | 1-5 |
| ENGR/ENTR 310 Entrepreneurial Leadership | 3 | 3-6 |
| Digital E & I Cluster (9 credits) | Credits | Semester |
|---|---|---|
| IST 237 Digital Entrepreneurship | 3 | 3-7 |
| IST 337 Technologies for Digital Entrepreneurs | 3 | 4-8 |
| IST 437 Digital Design and Innovation | 3 | 4-8 |
| Core Course #3 | Credits | Semester |
|---|---|---|
| MGMT/IST/ENGR 425 New Venture Creation | 3 | 4-8 |
To meet the prerequisite requirement for MGMT/IST/ENGR 425, you must take:
- (ECON 102 or ECON 104 or ECON 14 or MGMT 215; an ECON course is not required for the ENTI minor) and (CAS 100 or CAS 137T or EMSC 100S)
Digital Entrepreneurship & Innovation Course Options
The first cluster course is IST 237 – Digital Entrepreneurship, followed by IST 337 – Technologies for Digital Entrepreneurs as the suggested second cluster course. IST 337 and IST 437 require students to apply foundational concepts presented in IST 237, therefore, IST 237 is a prerequisite course for IST 337 and IST 437.