Current Spotlight

Missouri Western State University

At the Craig School of Business at Missouri Western State University, business students, and now business alumni, have the opportunity to win ownership of a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory store upon completion of the Applied Entrepreneurship course and presenting their business plan and proposal to a panel who selects each semester's winners. Steve Craig, benefactor of the Craig School of Business and visionary of the program, explains that the main goal of the program is getting graduates into business ownership and operation sooner and "propelling them into more entrepreneurship opportunities as they mature."

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Spotlight Archives

2012

Tsinghua and Zhejiang Universities, School of Economics and Management & School of Management, Beijing, China & Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
China's national innovation development system has a significant advantage in the form of a network of research institutes tied to top-flight university-based business schools throughout the country, whose efforts are devoted to various aspects of promoting innovation. The two most significant of these institutes are the Research Center for Technological Innovation (RCTI) at Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management (SEM) in Beijing, and the National Institute for Innovation Management (NIIM), based at the School of Management of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, the provincial capital of Zhejiang Province.

ESADE Business School, Barcelona, Spain
ESADE Business School's Creapolis is the first international business innovation business park to practice Open Innovation, which focuses on collaborative work and exchange of ideas, knowledge, and experiences across sectors in order to accelerate innovation. More than 50 multi-sector companies are housed in this innovation ecosystem located in Barcelona, Spain.

University of Utah, David Eccles School of Business, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
The report of the AACSB International Task Force on Business Schools and Innovation, Business School on an Innovation Mission, acknowledges the role of entrepreneurship in the development of innovation in business, and highlights the enormous opportunity for business schools to contribute to this vitally important aspect of the economy. The David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah has taken to heart this prerogative of business schools to contribute to innovation with an inexpensive, highly imitable and successful new model for business incubation that they have dubbed The Foundry.

2011

University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management, Toronto,Ontario, Canada
An academic and commercial "learning lab," The DesignWorks Center at the Rotman School of Management was created with the vision of creating business, rather than just maintaining business. The Center's methodology centers on the field of business design – the Three Gears of Business Design used to identify new opportunities, create bigger breakthroughs, and accelerate marketplace success. The Center's success has led to expanding its global reach by establishing a DesignWorks Singapore, with aspirations of eventually creating a world-wide collaborative network in business design.

Imperial College London, Imperial College Business School, London, United Kingdom
The Innovation Studies Centre at Imperial College Business School is the heart of what Professor David Gann, Head of Imperial College Business School's Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group, describes as "the most active innovation research team in Europe." The research and initiatives of the Innovation Studies Centre have significant impact on the academic field of innovation within and beyond Imperial College Business School, as well as in the realms of business and public policy.

The University of Iowa, Tippie College of Business, Iowa City, Iowa USA
One prominent challenge for firms and other organizations is to link their operations with the strategic side of innovation. At the University of Iowa’s Tippie School of Management, the belief that business schools could play a role in helping firms to address this challenge prompted the creation of the Strategic Innovation (SI) Career Academy. At Tippie, academic learning and professional experience are combined in an MBA curriculum that aims to prepare students with skills that will help them to excel in and become experts of their field.

University of Auckland, University of Auckland Business School, Auckland, New Zealand
The University of Auckland Business School has sought out best practices in the development and promotion of a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, both within New Zealand and abroad. The UABS has undertaken a number of initiatives addressing innovation, some originating within the business school itself, while others have developed in conjunction with other university faculties and with external organizations.

2010

ESSEC Business School, Cergy-Pontoise, France, and Singapore
In order to meet the ever-mercurial needs of the business world, ESSEC has entered into numerous ventures in the past decade designed to promote and support entrepreneurship and innovative new businesses, both on its own, and in cooperation with other institutions, public and private.

DePaul University, College of Commerce & The Charles H. Kellstadt Graduate School of Business, Chicago, Illinois, USA
The Center for Creativity and Innovation (CCI) is part of the College of Commerce & Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at DePaul University. The purpose of the center is to be a premier source of knowledge, skills enhancement, and customized facilitation to foster creativity and innovation in the workplace. Activities sponsored by the Center are intended to make a difference in the ways in which individuals, groups, and organizations search for opportunities, solve problems, and bring meaning into their work lives.

North Carolina State University, College of Management, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
The College of Management at North Carolina State University is the current host to the Center for
Innovation Management Studies (CIMS), a leading authority on innovation management and innovation research, creating, synthesizing and disseminating information on innovation management in and for modern businesses.

North Georgia College and State University, Mike Cottrell School of Business, Dahlonega, Georgia, USA
The Center for the Future of North Georgia’s innovation-supporting activities focus on facilitating sustainable economic growth by bringing new businesses processes to local companies and organizations in the North Georgia region.

University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
A "Commitment to Innovation" is one of three values the Wharton school has identified to define its brand. The Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology (M&T) is a partnership between the Wharton School and the Penn Engineering School that focuses on technological innovation and aims to produce graduates who can bridge technology and business.

Aalto University, School of Economics, Helsinki, Finland
The January 2010 merger of Helsinki School of Economics (HSE), University of Art and Design Helsinki, and Helsinki University of Technology to become Aalto University was intended to create a business-focused institution that is multi-disciplinary in every aspect and capitalizes on Finland’s reputation for industrial and product design.

Kyushu University, Kyushu University Business School (QBS), Fukuoka, Kyushu, Japan
Kyushu University Business School (QBS) was established in 2003 as one of a series of new professional graduate schools established at universities in Japan. The business school's focus has been on incorporating and delivering foundational courses related to innovation, building over time a curriculum that combines courses in general business fields with more specialized courses such as intellectual property management, technology development, risk management, or innovation management.

Santa Clara University, Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara, California, USA
The Leavey School of Business is heavily involved in the many and varied innovation-related activities at Santa Clara University (SCU). SCU has worked to ensure that all their students, regardless of major, receive some exposure to the concepts and techniques of innovation, primarily through the vehicle of university wide interdisciplinary units known as the Centers of Distinction. Founded in 1997, the Center for Science, Technology, and Society (CSTS) is one of three Centers of Distinction at SCU, which in particular positions itself at the nexus of three major activity areas: Education, Social Impact, and Public Engagement.

Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Escuela de Negocios, Santiago, Chile
The School of Business at the Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez (UAI) in Santiago, Chile, has embraced innovation as a key area of focus and one of the primary ways it hopes to influence the Latin American economic environment.

University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business, Berkeley, California, USA
In 2010, the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, released a new strategic plan, which places the archetype of the 'Innovative Leader' at the center of the school's definition of its graduates.

University of California, San Diego, Rady School of Management, San Diego, California, USA
The mission of the Rady School of Management is "to educate ethical leaders for innovation-driven organizations." Complemented by a set of values that includes "innovation, impact, collaboration, integrity and risk taking", this mission defines a clear direction that the school is well-positioned to support, particularly through the delivery of its innovation-focused MBA programs.

University of Cambridge Cambridge Judge Business School, Cambridge, United Kingdom
The Cambridge Judge Business School is heavily involved in a variety of initiatives related to innovation, both within the business school itself and at the university level. Innovation is viewed holistically at Cambridge, and so the collective aim of initiatives driven by the Centre for Business Research, the Centre for Process Excellence and Innovation, and the UK Innovation Research Centre, among others, is to cover the entire spectrum of the innovation process by studying each aspect in detail.