Educating knowledge workers

Many questions inspire the field of interdisciplinary scholarship that Carnegie Mellon University brings to bear on the effects of technological change.  How does technology create innovation that drives enterprise and produces economic change?  How have different industries developed the technologies needed to fuel growth?  How has creation of technology occurred in different industries, various historical periods and other regions of the world?  How do particular enterprises or industries form proprietary interests in specific technologies?  What forms of public regulation encourage enterprises to develop technology for commercial use?  How do engineers and scientists work as managers of technological change in a networked environment?

The result is an intellectually rigorous program initially organized around a program of doctoral studies known as SET Change, studies focused on Strategy, Entrepreneurship and Technological Change.  From that commitment to training a new generation of scholars in this subject area, the program is now reaching across the campus to provide Carnegie Mellon students in many traditional fields with intellectual tools to analyze technological change related to innovation and entrepreneurship.  Added to the curriculum is a masters degree in Engineering and Technology Innovation Management.

The faculty group responsible for this initiative has also invited teachers throughout the university community to create undergraduate courses for a new program of minor studies in Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Economic Development.  This concentration will also provide impetus for a new curriculum in entrepreneurship and technological innovation for undergraduate engineering students. 

The experience from innovation in course offerings will lead to additional curricula for Carnegie Mellon undergraduates in other technical schools.  In addition, using the full scope of its international collaboration with other institutions of higher learning, the SET Change community is also reaching out to students and scholars around the world to gain international participation in this project.