Graduate Certificate in Science and Technology Commercialization launches at Beedie

A new certificate program from Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business will teach scientists and engineers the skills necessary to make their inventions a commercial success.

The new Graduate Certificate in Science and Technology Commercialization will provide the frameworks, perspective and techniques for research scientists and engineers to contribute to new product development and commercialization in industry, within both existing firms and their own start-up ventures.

The Certificate is open to graduate students, post-doctoral students, faculty, and recent alumni of both SFU and UBC graduate programs in science, engineering, health, and environmental sciences.

Taught by leading faculty from SFU’s Beedie School of Business, the program is designed for researchers seeking to contribute to high potential impact economic and social innovation, particularly in sectors such as nanotech, biotech, clean tech, and advanced materials.

Students will learn skills such as opportunity assessment, market prioritization, innovation management, profiting from uncertainty, finance, leadership, and how to develop and validate a business model.

They will also hone their entrepreneurial pitching skills, build their own personal network within the regional technology ecosystem, develop a business plan, and participate in New Ventures BC’s entrepreneurship competition.

“More than 80 percent of our science and engineering PhD graduates do not go on to academic jobs, yet while at university they are not taught the skills to commercialize lab research,” says Elicia Maine, Associate Professor in Technology Management at the Beedie School of Business and Academic Chair of the new Certificate.

“This Certificate will teach students how to create and capture value from scientific inventions that have huge potential to change the world in terms of both economic and social value.”

Participants will study part-time over three semesters, with classes held one evening a week at SFU’s Segal Graduate School of Business in downtown Vancouver.

Applications for the Certificate are now open, with the first cohort commencing September 2015. The deadline for scholarship applications is April 30, 2015.

For more information visit beedie.sfu.ca/commercialization-certificate/