INSEAD’s ‘Sci-Tech Commercialiser’, a programme on offer to the school’s MBA students, has recently won the Association of MBA’s 2012 Innovation Award. The international accreditation organisation announced the prestigious honour at its annual gala ceremony in London on 17 October.
INSEAD’s Sci-Tech Commercialiser is a new addition to the school’s portfolio of approaches that bridge theory and practise to create social value. It provides INSEAD students with hands-on learning experiences while also advancing scientific innovation and developing effective strategies to bring these inventions to market. Launched by the INSEAD Centre for Entrepreneurship (ICE) in January 2012, the programme matches MBA students with scientists to partner on technology commercialisation.
A key INSEAD partner in delivering this programme is SATT LUTECH, a technology accelerator that works closely with several Paris-based universities and the French government.. SATT LUTECH finances the Sci-Tech Commercialiser with an annual sponsoring gift and its labs provide a wealth of projects—from the life sciences and new materials research to renewable energy. As a result, INSEAD students benefit by gaining access to LUTECH scientists and promising technology from across a vast sweep of scientific disciplines.. Bill Magill, INSEAD’s Director for Science Entrepreneurship, has served as the Commercialiser’s primary manager on the Europe Campus, bringing more than a quarter-century of Silicon Valley venture capital, investment banking and consulting to the role.
Accepting the Innovation Award on behalf of INSEAD, Filipe Santos, Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Academic Director of INSEAD’s Social Entrepreneurship Initiative and Director of the Rudolf and Valeria Maag Centre for Entrepreneurship said that “INSEAD was delighted to receive the honour, which acknowledged INSEAD’s overall commitment to innovation in MBA teaching.”
“The initiative’s success on INSEAD’s Europe Campus has led to the Sci-Tech Commercialiser being introduced in the school’s Singapore campus too,” added Professor Santos, who acknowledged the support of the National University of Singapore and SMART (Singapore MIT Alliance for Research and Technology) to launch the programme on the Asia Campus in October 2012. Paul Kewene-Hite, Executive Director of ICE and an accomplished industry practitioner with more than 20 years of experience in technology development, has spearheaded the initiative on that campus.
Read the Press Release here
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