KB7046 - Technology Entrepreneurship & Product Development

You will adopt and develop a critical understanding of your personal business idea, based on a range of briefings and discussions with regular sessions devoted to feedback on the production and development of your portfolio from your peers and academic team

Support from business will also be integral in your experience. This will come from:

? Expert speakers from the fields of Banking, Accountancy, Law, e-business
? Marketing/PR and Small Business support
? Ideas factory with established entrepreneurs, identifying problems and giving advice on business start up

You will also be required to conduct a detailed evaluation of the information resources available to support small business start up.

You will be supported academically during all scheduled sessions where there will be opportunities to ask questions and discuss issues relating to the content of the module and your portfolio work.
Academics will also be available to support you outside of formal scheduled teaching subject to prior arrangement. In addition to on-site delivery, you will be directed to textbooks, text- and video-based learning resources, Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Body (PSRB) reports and scholarly journal articles (hard copy or electronic).

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

Knowledge & Understanding:
1. To be able to research, identify, and critically evaluate the functional and managerial competencies of an entrepreneur in a new small enterprise
2. To critically relate the position of a small enterprise within the economy and recognise modern trends in the business world that are impacting on entrepreneurial ventures

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
3. Plan, undertake and evaluate an investigation into the market potential for; a business product or service, e-business potential and produce a comprehensive business plan.
4. Critically appraise the operation of a small enterprise in marketing, finance, supply and human resource terms

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
5. The importance of building effective teams and relationships to support a creative culture for entrepreneurial activities

Formal Marked Assessments
1. Group Business Plan 20%
This will assess all MLOs. You will produce a business plan for the start of a small business that demonstrates research and rationale on the aspects of: business concept developments/reviews, products/service definitions, marketing and business finance issues.
2. Group Presentation (20%)
This will assess MLOs 2, 4 and 5. A personal presentation of your business plan in a scenario where you will be confronted by a panel of potential investors.
3. Individual research project (60%)
This will assess MLOs 1,2,4 and 5. The research project will analyse the skills and competencies required to become an entrepreneur and critically evaluate the information resources available to support your business start-up investigation.

Informal Assessment for Learning
You will receive formative feedback during the portfolio building stages through ideas factory, peers and the by the module delivery team.

None

None

Right from the start of the module, you will learn valuable skills and adopt relevant tools to start an innovative, high impact new business. From the first week, you will develop your personal business idea by considering prospective customers needs, learning how to do “rapid prototyping”, using the tools of “lean” entrepreneurship, and pitching new ideas.
The skills you will learn are both the foundation of a career as a life-long entrepreneur and in high demand from a wide variety of employers: large and established firms who need innovative employees, and fast-growing firms in the exciting technology entrepreneurship sector.

The global challenges that surround the world today require trained innovators to grasp these challenges and turn them into unique opportunities.