Entrepreneurship
The Entrepreneurship concentration prepares engineers to transform technical ideas into successful businesses and innovative products.
Last Updated: 07/06/2026 | All information is accurate and still up-to-date
The Entrepreneurship concentration prepares you for small business success by teaching you how to create a strategic business plan, start a company, and launch a product.
Through courses led by top faculty in the Colleges of Engineering and Management, you will cover topics like high-tech entrepreneurship, new product creation, and venture opportunity analysis. These courses focus on the technical foundations of entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurs drive the market economy. They start businesses, grow them, and work to increase profits. This growth leads to more jobs for workers. While many think entrepreneurs always build businesses from scratch, there are other paths, too. Entrepreneurship can also involve buying a business, adding to it, or taking over a family-run business.
A 2024 report by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) found that 33.2 million Americans are starting or running new businesses. According to the SBA, women own around 26 percent of small businesses in the U.S., while 14 percent of owners are Black, Hispanic or Asian.
Why Choose Entrepreneurship?
Engineering innovations often become the foundation of new companies. Engineers who can understand business strategy can:
- Turn technical ideas into products
- Commercialize new technologies
- Launch startups
- Lead innovation teams inside large companies
Who Should Choose this Concentration?
This track is ideal for engineers who want to:
- Launch their own startupÂ
- Lead innovation in a technology company
- Develop and manage new products
- Work in venture capital or technology commercialization
Career Outcomes?
Graduates of the Entrepreneurship concentration are prepared to work in a wide variety of roles, including:
- Startup founder
- Product manager
- Technology commercialization manager
- Innovation strategist
- Venture analyst
- Engineering product manager
Industries include:
- Tech startups
- AI companiesÂ
- Biotech
- Robotics
- Software platforms
- Hardware startups
Curriculum
| CONCENTRATION: Entrepreneurship | Credits |
|---|---|
| CORE Subtotal | 15 |
| Take four courses: | |
| EM/EGR 506 Managing New High-Tech Product Launches | 3 |
| EM/EGR 507 Product Life Cycle Management | 3 |
| EM/EGR 517 Facilities Engineering Systems | 3 |
| EM/EGR 518 Environmental Compliance for Facilities Engineers | 3 |
| EGR/EM 508 Managing New Product Creation | 3 |
| MKT 562 Experience Innovation and Strategic Design | 3 |
| MBA 570 Opportunity Evaluation and Value Creation | 3 |
| MBA 571 High Growth Entrepreneurship | 3 |
| MSE/MIE 576 Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization I | 3 |
| MSE/MIE 577 Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization II | 3 |
| Take one course: (or substitute practicum with approval) | |
| EM 675 Engineering Management Masters Project | 3 |
| ISE 521 Health Systems Performance Improvement II | 3 |
| ISE 554 Introduction to Product Development | 3 |
| MAE 526 Fundamentals of Product Design | 3 |
| ITAO 549 Supply Chain Management Practicum | 3 |
| ITAO 559 Business Analytics Practicum | 3 |
| MIE 572 Venture Opportunity Analytics | 3 |
| MIE 570 Introduction to Innovation and Entrepreneurship | 3 |
| MEM PRO TIP: You can take up to 12 credit hours of MBA courses. |
Entrepreneurship Knowledge and Skills Gained
The Master of Engineering Management with an Entrepreneurship concentration helps you gain knowledge and skills to:
- Develop methods to understand customer experiences.
- Practice innovation and use “design-thinking” tools and techniques.
- View strategic perspectives for designing innovative products and services.
- Learn about technology opportunity analysis and building technologies from intellectual property.
- Find ways to create ideas and explore potential high-growth business opportunities.
- Understand data gathering, data analysis, and data interpretation for evaluating new business startup opportunities.
- Develop practices for creating new high-tech product ideas and managing the design process.
- Prototype and manage complex technical products during all phases of the product life cycle.
Hands-On Learning Opportunites
Students may:
- Develop real startup ideas
- Analyze market opportunities
- Create business models
- Design prototypes
- Pitch ideas to instructors and industry mentors