1. Technical Entrepreneurship (TE) through
Integrated Product Development (IPD)
Professor John B Ochs, Ph D
Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA
NCIIA Open 2012
2. Lehigh’s IPD Program
• Started in 1994
• 18 years of a not-so-quiet revolution in education
• Truly interdisciplinary in students & faculty
– business, design arts, engineering, education
• Pre-college through graduate
• Collaboration with industry throughout
– planning
– projects
– sponsorship
• Aims to create an environment for fostering student
technology entrepreneurs
3. IPD Program Tenets
• Innovation, fueled by creativity, is an important
economic development engine
• The greatest opportunity for innovation occurs at
the intersections of disciplines
• Innovation is a process that can be imitated by
experiencing it.
• The greatest chance for economic success comes
from a diverse interdisciplinary globally-oriented
team experiencing an innovation process.
• Entrepreneurs are needed to lead these teams,
assess the opportunity, take on the risks, manage
the development process and find the resources
needed to launch the new ventures.
4. Our Program Vision
It is our vision to create and foster an
environment, culture and community
that is imaginative, creative, innovative,
diverse, interdisciplinary, experiential
and globally oriented, morally and
ethically grounded, technologically
savvy and entrepreneurially focused.
5. Educational Approach
• Use cross disciplinary teams and develop
teamwork experience
• Seek alumni and industry sponsorship and help
• Provide opportunity for student entrepreneurs
• Guide teams through a IPD process
• Emphasize the experience with outcomes
needed but of secondary importance
• Emphasize modeling and simulation
• Emphasize prototype development
• Emphasize oral & written presentation skills
6. Product Development
Methodology
• Encourage Student Entrepreneurs through campus-
wide “Student Entrepreneur’s Competition”
• Team with local startup companies and alumni
• Industry sponsors for product and process
improvement
• Follow the IDEO “Deep Dive” process
• Use truly multi-disciplinary teams
• Use faculty as “guides on the side”
• Encourage risk taking – “wow” effect
• Learn from and publish failures
• Rely on extensive support infrastructure– labs & staff
7. IPD Overview: Level #1
Innovation is the economic engine driving the
creation of societal wealth
Other
Revenues
Paying Customers
Purposes
Investment in Innovation
Products
Innovation
Engine Manufacturing
Services
People and businesses invest in new products because the expected yield
in long term growth and profits is greater than other alternatives
8. IPD Overview: Level-2
Project and Process Management
Manufacturing
Development
Manufacturing
Conceptual 3 Ramp-up Sales,
Opportunity Design & Product Service &
Scanning Product
Planning
Development 4 Support
Market
3 Introduction 5
1
2 Market
Development
4
3
Documentation and Data Management
8
9. IPD Tasks & Deliverables
• Company & Industry • Concept generation/ selection
Research • Detailed Design description
• Customer needs • Prototype design &
• Competitive development
benchmarks • Prototype testing
• Target markets • Production planning
• Marketing strategies • Market Planning
• Target pricing • Cost & cash flow analysis
• Target specifications & • Value statement
constraints
Oral & poster briefings & written reports
10. IPD Capstone Project
Statistics
• >200 Industry Sponsors
• >1500 students in over 175 project teams
• 2011 Capstone Courses: 30 teams and 193 students
• Average of 13 faculty advisors per year
• Projects from a) companies, b) local entrepreneurs, c)
student entrepreneurs
• Contacts made through Lehigh’s Career Services,
Corporate Relations, Alumni, SBDC & Ben Franklin
Center
• 13 CONSECTUTIVE YEARS of NATIONAL WINNERS
for student technology entrepreneurship: NCIIA E-team
and program development grants $13K-$25K
