Abstract:

The objective of the study is to compare entrepreneurship program for undergraduate engineering students at University College of Northeast Norway (USN) with similar entrepreneurship program at University of California, Berkeley (UCB), which is a part of The Silicon Valley ecosystem. The entrepreneurship program at USN is optional and consists of 2 courses in the 3rd year with a total of 30 credits out of 60. The program starts with a motivation seminar with guest lectures from local industry and UCB. Then, the students form teams, socalled student enterprises, that are the core aspect of the program. Lectures in start-ups, business plan development, economy, and intellectual property protection are given throughout the semester. Each student team proposes a product or service idea to meet a market need, develops a business idea, writes a business plan and makes a presentation for a jury with real life startup experiences. The students are expected to seek advice and knowledge from mentors, in collaboration with UCB, and other networks. The presentations are given for the jury for validation of their business idea, the business plan and their presentation. In the end of the year, the student enterprises compete with other student enterprises in regional, national, and possible European championships. The entrepreneurship program for undergraduate engineering students at UCB is given through The Berkeley Method of Entrepreneurship (BMoE). BMoE is a comprehensive teaching and learning method developed at UCB to enable engineers to be more entrepreneurial. It is focused on three main elements: networks, mindset and frameworks. The program is optional in upper division of undergraduate studies. A motivational lecture series is given throughout the semester by distinguished innovators telling about their successes and failures. The students have to form teams and come up with an idea through an idea generation process, develop a business idea, write a business plan and make a presentation. Lectures in business establishment, business plans, economy, and intellectual property rights are given throughout the semester. In addition, courses in integrated device design and product development are offered in the framework of BMoE. Students are encouraged but not required to participate in various competitions. The main difference between USN and UCB’s entrepreneurship program for engineers appears to be more comprehensive approach of BMoE and being part of Silicon Valley ecosystem. Different way of teaching entrepreneurship rely also on cultural differences between the two countries.

Keywords:

Entrepreneurship, Norway, Berkeley.