Graduate study for the bioentrepreneur: elective courses

The University of Illinois, Chicago has a graduate program for the Bioengineering Entrepreneur within the Department of Bioengineering. The objective of the program is to provide graduate students the basic knowledge needed to Identify, assess, and commercialize a new medical product concept. This is a joint program with the Institute of Entrepreneurial Studies within the College of Business. The program requires the student to complete a course schedule that includes Bioengineering core courses, business classes, and electives from the UIC Bioentrepreneur portfolio of classes. The uniqueness of this program is the elective course selection. Each Bioentrepreneur course emphasizes some of the special issues and skill sets required in bringing a product to market. For instance, the class, "Technology Assessment and the Start-Up of a Medical Device Company", begins with the Product Requirement Definition (PRD), an essential skill set. The student will be exposed to all possible areas that need to be defined or are of concern in the commercialization of the medical product. The class then progresses through all the essential steps of a business plan, funding, valuation of the technology, and culminates with an Executive Summary.