How does a small cohort of students make an impact of global scale in the midst of a pandemic?
In the coming months, the Scheller College of Business seeks to answer that question.
In the first educational offering of its kind, a new course titled Global Technology Innovation Practicum will build on the fundamentals of the TI:GER® (Technology Innovation: Generating Economic Results) program while narrowing its focus to innovating for the COVID-19 crisis.
The catalyst for this new course is Georgia Tech’s launch of the Atlanta site of Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) - an international program for the commercialization of early-stage science. Its recently-launched initiative, CDL Recovery, partners leading scientists with COVID-19 solutions. Through a mentorship-based program that now also engages TI:GER students in the practicum, business incubators and venture capitalists can quickly move pandemic products or services to market.
The introduction of TI:GER students to this CDL Recovery initiative proves a natural fit. TI:GER coursework emphasizes innovation-based live case studies and the observation, decision-making and analytical skills that those cases demand. The MBA and PhD candidates of the 16-month TI:GER program are prepared to effectively partner with start-ups and add value to fledgling businesses. By overlapping the TI:GER and CDL Recovery programs, the methodologies are now concentrated on the sciences as they address public health and economic recovery. The end goal is an acceleration of solutions for the multitude of challenges currently emerging.
Executive Director and Academic Director of TI:GER Jonathan Giuliano says the partnership with CDL and the dual emphasis in human health and global economy equates to an unprecedented opportunity for the students enrolled in the course. “What is different about this coursework is that it directly and immediately responds to a global pandemic. It draws on the same pedagogy of our typical practicums, yet has huge implications for the issues top of mind around the world.”
As with the rest of Georgia Tech’s courses, the summer offering of Global Technology Innovation Practicum will be virtual - proving advantageous both for students and for the scope of the work. Virtual not only accommodates the current academic needs of a digital environment, but also presents opportunities for increased inclusion of scientists, entrepreneurs, investors, and mentors who can contribute momentum to these endeavors of business and science. Giuliano notes that the realities of the time are “bringing together everyone in a virtual space, which has opened up the world to work on these solutions.”
The inaugural course will launch in May and conclude in July - a condensed timeframe for a typical TI:GER practicum to match the immediacy and significance of CDL Recovery’s efforts.
When asked what is the most essential aspect of the partnership between TI:GER and CDL Recovery and this new coursework, Giuliano does not hesitate to answer. “Technology Innovation. Helping humankind is at the heart of this. We are seeking solutions for a global problem, and solutions come from technology innovation.”
For more information about CDL-ATL and the CDL-Recovery Practicum, contact:
Peter Thompson, Scheller College Professor, Special Chairholder
CDL-ATL & CDL-Recovery Co-site Lead
peter.thompson@creativedestructionlab.com
404-510-1592