This Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) project seeks to change the innovation education process by synergistically partnering with local small businesses, national laboratories and global educational partners so as to include significant innovative and entrepreneurial dimensions in both undergraduate and graduate education. The project will build a linked undergraduate and graduate program with outreach to industry. The model uses well designed teams of graduate and undergraduate students, a faculty mentor, and high school students to work with small businesses. The evaluation component of the project will develop a new measure, based on self-efficacy, to gage success in creating innovators and to potentially provide a new way to measure innovation education effectiveness. The project approach has two critical differentiators that make it viable and sustainable. By having innovation teams with graduate students and faculty to support the teams' knowledge-related questions, the innovation teams reduce the time/interaction demands on corporate partners to levels that small businesses will consider acceptable. Unlike internship programs, the team approach also provides continuity for the time scales necessary for end-to-end innovation. Secondly, in keeping with the concept of generating real value, the innovation teams will work with the partners to seek grants, other contract funding, and other forms of financial support for innovation to justify investments of time from the companies and to eventually provide sustaining funding.
This project will have an impact on K-12 education and propose a model for innovation education that will be sustainable at a wide range of institutions, not just at the top 50 research schools. It will offer symposia to disseminate results to a wider audience. The project will also encourage and mentor women and members of underrepresented groups, engaging them with local companies where role-models can help maintain their excitement and commitment.
Partners include the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (lead institution), Academy School District 20, NAVSYS Corporation, Colorado Engineering, Inc., SemQuest, Inc., Intelligent Payload Solutions, Inc., Atmel, and Securics, Inc.
