Innovation and Entrepreneurship

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Johanna McAuliffe
TUTH 3:05 PM – 4:20 PM

Interested in team building, communication, confidence, connections, presence, listening, expressivity, adaptability, emotion, and vulnerability? Explore techniques for spontaneous behavior, immediate creation, and developing your creativity and truth on stage.

Amanda S Gould
Aaron P Dinin
TUTH 10:05 AM – 11:20 AM

In academic learning environments, students are taught to fear failure. Failing will ruin your GPA, prevent you from getting into a good college, cause trouble with parents, make you an outcast among your peers, and might even get you expelled. These kinds of negative associations with failure become so ingrained in school that most people spend their lives afraid of failing. Conversely, many of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs failed multiple times on their paths toward success. The underlying question of this class is to wonder if failing is really as antithetical to learning as we’ve been taught to believe. We’re going to try to answer the question in two ways. First, we’re going to examine examples of some of history’s greatest failures and see how they impacted future decisions. Second, we’re going to attempt a series of ambitious entrepreneurial tasks where the goal will be nearly impossible to achieve. But accomplishing the tasks isn’t how we’ll judge success. Instead, when good entrepreneurs fail, they learn from their mistakes in order to have a better chance of succeeding in future attempts. So we’ll judge success in our class not by how poorly we did, but by how well prepared we are to try again.

Fulfills Social Sciences (SS) Trinity Requirement.

Aaron P Dinin
TUTH 11:45 AM – 1:00 PM

If you’re like the typical student, you spend hundreds of hours every month on sites like Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter, but you’ve never paid a penny for any of the services. Have you ever wondered how they could be free? In the web marketing industry, we have a saying for this seeming paradox: “If you’re not paying for something, you’re not the customer… you’re the product.” In other words, even though you might think of yourself as a valued user within your preferred social community, in reality, you’re actually the product the company is selling. In Social Marketing for Entrepreneurs, we’ll explore the other side of social media that most people never see: the customer side. Instead of using social media for entertainment, we’ll learn about using social media to market our products, companies, ideas, and even ourselves.

Through a variety of readings, case studies, speakers, and real-world experiments, we’ll spend the semester learning how to transform social media from a tool for entertainment into a tool for promotion, brand building, and revenue generation.

Fulfills Social Sciences (SS) and Science, Technology, and Society (STS) Trinity Requirements.

Matthew T Nash
SECTION 01: W 3:05 PM – 5:35 PM
SECTION 02: W 10:05 AM – 12:35 PM

This course provides an overview of social innovation. It will begin by assessing problems with current mental and organizational models for addressing social needs and the resulting desire for, and urgency of, innovative approaches. The course develops a theory of innovation and describes examples of persons and organizations demonstrating innovative approaches. We also look at how to innovate effectively and the attributes and skills that cultivate such innovation, emphasizing the importance of systemic thinking, cross sector collaboration, and creative engagement. The course will combine lectures with discussion groups that consider issues such as education, health, children, poverty, and the environment. The course also will seek to provide students with a framework and tools for imagining their own engagement in social innovation.

Fulfills Ethical Inquiry (EI) Trinity Requirement.

Dennis A Clements
M 10:05 AM – 12:35 PM

Global health, both international and local, has a long way to go to support healthy lives. In this class, students will have the opportunity to gain understanding of how the Entrepreneurial method can help to improve health. Students will learn about the victories and the challenges, and in the end, will be better able to be successful in their future endeavors. Students will be challenged, and will have to work, but in the end, they will be proud of their accomplishments and newfound knowledge.

Fulfills Social Sciences (SS) Trinity Requirement.

Karen Price

TH 1:40 PM – 4:40 PM

Examines documentaries as catalysts for change in local, state, and federal laws and regulations, with special attention to relationships between film and organizations with political influence. Looks at how documentaries have altered public sentiment and political outcomes. Uses case studies of documentary films (essay-style, journalistic, information-driven films; narrative, story-driven films; propaganda; art films; and hybrids of all of the above). Explores the question of how a film achieves influence: for example, with a high-profile theatrical and/or television release, by utilization as an educational tool, or by ‘going viral’ to become part of a public conversation.

Fulfills Arts, Literature & Performance (ALP) Trinity Requirement.

Jed Simmons
TU 3:20 PM – 5:50 PM

We will look at how we make, distribute and consume media. Students will get a deeper understanding of the media and entertainment space and entrepreneurial thinking, as well as context around players in today’s media and entertainment. We will focus on entrepreneurs and innovative companies and creators revolutionizing media and entertainment, as well as thought leaders in the space. The class will feature cases, articles, speakers, in class discussion along with a term long project. The class will cover key categories and innovative companies that are defining today’s next generation of media and entertainment in consumer platforms, programmers/content, and new innovations (e.g. eSports, Gaming, VR and AR, Podcasting, AI, Blockchain)

Ask yourself, do you go to Spotify, Google Play, Pandora or iTunes radio? Are you a regular on the BuzzFeed, FB, Snapchat and Twitter Apps? How often are you watching YouTube, Snapchat, Facebook or Instagram videos and when did you last go on Netflix, Amazon or Hulu or HBOGo? Or not? Do you watch ads online, skip them or even notice them or block them? Are you willing to subscribe to get content or programming? How many subscriptions do you already have? Do you play a game produced by Riot Games? How many hours do you spend on your XBOX or Playstation? Or on Twitch? How many Podcasts do you listen to a week? How often do you share media?

The modules will include case days, discussion days and speaker days. Additionally, the class will hit on key fundamentals to the industry such as rights management, data, regulation, revenue fundamentals (advertising, subscriptions), fundraising for content companies, audience development and corporate culture.

Fulfills Science, Technology, and Society (STS) Trinity Requirement.

Brad W Brinegar
TUTH 11:45 AM – 1:00 PM

Before Dollar Shave Club, we went to Target to save on Gillette. Before Casper, we bounced on beds at Sleepy’s to choose Simmons over Sealy. We still buy traditional brands at traditional stores. But a host of these disruptors (including Bonobos, Warby Parker and Glossier) are cutting out the middleman while redefining brick-and-mortar retail. There is massive-scale disruption: Amazon now gets us whatever we want, whenever and wherever we want it. So today, Amazon’s market value is greater than the combined market value of Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Best Buy, Costco, Macy’s, Kroger and CVS. There is surgical disruption: Dollar Shave Club quickly amassed 3 million subscribers. Instead of struggling to replicate their success, Unilever bought the brand for over a billion dollars. These “direct-to-consumer” brands control every customer interaction. This allows them to design a distinctive, holistic brand experience. These brands become as much about that experience as about the product itself. This requires customer empathy. Who is most likely to care about our offering? How do they say they choose brands? Is that really how it works? Do they act rationally and intentionally or emotionally and subconsciously? How does culture affect the brand? How can social communities and influencers amplify our audience or shape the customer journey? Armed with these insights, we can create brands that reframe peoples’ category expectations and, in the best cases, enhance their lives.

Fulfills Social Sciences (SS) Trinity Requirement.

Edward E Timke
Steven McClelland
Kevin Hoch
Megan Kelly Deyncourt
WF 10:05 AM – 11:20 AM

Through this exploratory course, students foster a learning mindset by expanding their self-awareness and enhancing their teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills. As the course unfolds, students learn about their biases, strengths, and values; find ways to communicate with and trust others on a team working toward a common mission; observe and anticipate the needs of others; and develop ways to influence others through creative storytelling and systematic problem-solving. Students also grapple with ethical questions and challenging problems that cannot be solved without establishing a realistic cultural empathy. Class sessions involve interactive exercises that apply theory to practice, self- and group assessments, dynamic guest speakers, and applied creative projects.

Fulfills Cross Cultural Inquiry (CCI) and Social Sciences (SS) Trinity Requirements.

Daniel Ellison
TUTH 1:25 PM – 2:40 PM

An overview of copyright, contract, discrimination, employment, obscenity and other laws relevant to performing arts through readings and discussion of case law, statutes, sample legal documents, news reports and other materials. Includes exposure to legal issues for non-profit boards. Cuts across these legal issues to examine creative works themselves and their interplay with the body of laws. Views legal system in a broader context that examines how our legal system is a useful tool in promoting creation of artistic works.

Fulfills Ethical Inquiry (EI) and Social Sciences (SS) Trinity Requirements.

Katharine M Amato
W 1:25 PM – 3:55 PM

This course covers the component elements of developing the skills needed to launch a venture. Starting at the point of need identification, the course covers lean methodology; innovation and entrepreneurship strategy; creating the needed financing and resource structures; effectively marketing/ communicating the innovation and its associated benefits; leading, managing, and working effectively within teams; creating a positive and ethical work culture; and evaluating success. Materials for class discussion are case studies and readings.

Fulfills Social Sciences (SS) Trinity Requirement.

Grace Kim
MW 11:45 AM – 1:00 PM

Application of microeconomic theory, such as game theory and industrial organization, to analyze business start-ups and their development. Focus on evaluation of the role of entrepreneurs in the macroeconomy, and the microeconomic performance of young businesses. The effects of government policies and economic fluctuations on entrepreneurs will be addressed, as well as an understanding of the organization and financial structure, development, and allocational decisions of growing entrepreneurial ventures. Pre-requisite: Economics 201D.

Fulfills Social Sciences (SS) Trinity Requirement.

Danielle Zapotoczny
TH 6:15 PM – 8:45 PM

An interactive, project-based course that will explore the ever-evolving intersection between the public sector, private sector, and non-profit organizations in delivering needed services in the US and around the world. Students will gain first-hand experience by engaging in a project where they interact directly with an organization that sits at this intersection.
With a new global “to do list” in place via the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), world leaders are calling upon the private sector, NGOs and individuals to play an active role alongside governments in finding and implementing solutions. Focusing on “social impact” public-private partnerships, this course will look at innovative solutions — some that have worked and some that have failed — to explore the multitude of ways that the private sector is engaging in creating change along with the many reasons driving their desire to do so.

Fulfills Social Sciences (SS) Trinity Requirement.

Jon Fjeld
M 3:05 PM – 5:15 PM

Students develop full operating plans for a new venture, including a finance plan; detail will be suitable for a business plan document for a company seeking initial investment; plan should be fundable upon completion; teams follow a structured process in doing their analysis and making recommendations; students work with faculty advisors and business mentors.

Aaron P Dinin
TU 3:05 PM – 5:35 PM

In this course, students bring together interdisciplinary insights from their work throughout the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Certificate program to shed light on innovation and entrepreneurship and the roles they play in addressing the world’s most pressing problems. The class will incorporate rich discussion, selected readings, and guest speakers addressing topics in innovation and entrepreneurship. Students will focus on applying what they have learned through the certificate curriculum to develop an innovation and entrepreneurship capstone project.

Fulfills Social Sciences (SS) Trinity Requirement.

Charles R Hallford
Sharlini Sankaran
M 3:05 PM – 5:35 PM

The New Ventures Clinic – Healthcare is an opportunity for students to work on commercialization plans for technologies developed at Duke University, in particular in the areas of therapeutics (pharmaceuticals), diagnostics, and medical devices. In most cases, the students will work to define a plan for a start-up that would license the technology from Duke, but other strategies are also possible (e.g., not-for-profit).

The technologies chosen will have been screened by the Office of Licensing and Ventures, so they will all be determined to have commercial potential. The project teams will work in close collaboration with OLV.

Student teams will be assigned one technology to work on. They will have access to the scientist or inventor of the technology, and will also work with an academic and a business mentor. Teams will be interdisciplinary and students will gather and analyze data, develop recommendations, formulate implementation plans, and provide other capacity-building support to clients. Students will work on teams that have relevant business and technical backgrounds. Student teams will follow a structured process to develop a strategy and plan for the venture.

Thomas Sowers
Steven McClelland
W 4:55 PM – 7:30 PM

Hacking for Defense, a course designed for senior undergraduates and graduate level students in all schools and programs, takes an entrepreneurial, interdisciplinary approach to America’s hardest national security challenges. The complexity of these challenges demands a transformative effort that requires multi-faceted teams comprised of students from the schools of foreign service, policy, law, continuing studies, medicine, and business. We need and want policy professionals, makers and mechanical engineers, systems engineers, computer scientists, biomedical and public health professionals, entrepreneurs, physicists, scientists, and everyone between to be part of this unique effort. This is a modern renaissance class – it covers policy, economics, technology, national security, and whatever else you need to learn to solve your problem sponsor’s pain points. You will be at the forefront of changing the paradigm of problem-solving and solution development for the U.S. Government. The course is demanding: you’ll present at every class, you’ll work closely with your team, you’ll receive relentlessly direct feedback, your problem sponsors, mentors, military liaisons, corporate partners, investors and journalists may be in the room, but, you’ll be solving real problems for real customers, in real time.

Fulfills Social Sciences (SS) and Science, Technology, and Society (STS) Trinity Requirements.

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