How do you teach innovation?
When it comes to entrepreneurship, where teamwork, on-your-feet-thinking and client relations are everything, the classroom can't always give students the hands-on experience they need to succeed.
In an effort to help students overcome this school/work lacuna, Ryerson University is launching the
Digital Specialization Program, a new degree program that supplements classroom learning with an intensive experiential learning component.
The new program builds on the success of Ryerson's
Digital Media Zone (DMZ), the school's two-year-old business incubator, that in its short lifespan has already incubated and accelerated more than 40 startups (read
Yonge Street's profile on the DMZ
here).
"[The impetus for the new program] really did come out of the success of the DMZ," says Michael Carter, program coordinator for the Digital Specialization Program. "From the success of the
DMZ we saw and understood the merits of an incubator model. And we're trying to apply that now at an undergraduate level."
The new degree program introduces students to digital media and encourages them to explore how it can be harnessed for social and business innovation. The first half of the Digital Specialization Program—which launches in September 2012—involves 12 weeks of classroom learning where students are taught the basics of social and business innovation by a multi-disciplinary faculty and expert industry mentors. After completion of their coursework, students participate in the experiential learning component of the degree, a one-week innovation
boot camp followed by a 12-week program where students, with the help of expert mentors, work to generate and launch an innovative product or service.
Carter emphases that the program is not only about helping students launch their own startups, but also about helping students from across a multiplicity of disciplines to "think entrepreneurialy."
"We're looking at all individuals as entrepreneurs. I think all students have that within them. It's just a matter of figuring out what their specific skill sets are and how they can contribute to the digital economy that we have. [The program] will help students feel comfortable with the fact that they have valid ideas, and those ideas can lead to social innovation or to commercial productization," says Carter.
The Digital Specialization Program is not a stand-alone program; it's meant to supplement any number of other degree programs from fashion to business management. Though competitive, the program is open to all students who have completed a full year of study. By bringing together students from varying disciplines and academic backgrounds, the program emphasizes the importance of digital media and social innovation across sectors.
"It's a rather unique program," Carter says, "and I would dare to say probably the first of it's kind in Canada."
Writer: Katia Snukal
Source: Michael Carter, Program Coordinator for the Digital Specialization Program, Ryerson University