The aim of the course is to give engineering students detailed information about the technology transfer and commercialization process.  Students must already have identified an invention or research area of interest (MBE5011).  First, students shall learn about intellectual property protection and licensing. They will then form teams (of 3 to 4 students) and learn how to prepare an executive summary for a business plan.  This plan shall focus on the prototyping details and include a delivery schedule for product/service prototyping using commercially available design rules. Lectures will cover consideration for the user interface, transfer to mass production, product packaging, and distribution channels.  Teams will then learn how to realistically extrapolate for anticipated production and distribution issues and to suggest viable solutions for a hardware-based prototype or a software-based service. The final lectures will cover valuation and associated general investment models for the prototype products and services.

Upon completing the course, students should be able to:

1. Understand how intellectual property protection applies to inventions and business models.
2. Generate a realistic operating plan to create a prototype.
3. Extrapolate from the prototype experience to address mass production issues.
4. Value and defend their prototype as the centrepiece of an investment opportunity.

Continuous Assessment: 100%