Contact:

Susan Dischiave, Program Director, 314 Hinds Hall, (315) 443-5611, sadischi@syr.edu

Website:

Minor in Information Technology, Design, and Startups

Overview:

Do you have a dream of starting a new company? The minor in Information Technology, Design, and Startups (IDS) is a great way of converting that dream into reality. In IDS courses, you’ll acquire the basic knowledge and skills required to run a successful business and you’ll also learn how to develop and refine new ideas – the seeds of innovation – and turn those ideas into a viable venture. You can earn credit through real-world entrepreneurial immersion experiences, allowing you to pursue your venture while earning your Bachelor’s degree. You’ll get support from talented faculty members who approach entrepreneurship from multi-disciplinary perspective as well as a team of community partners and mentors who can help you make the right connections to jumpstart your venture.

The minor in Information Technology, Design, and Startups is an interdisciplinary 18-credit minor that prepares students with the knowledge and skills required to start a technology-oriented business venture. Students learn the basics of business and entrepreneurship by taking EEE 370 - Introduction to Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises , taught by faculty from the Whitman School of Management, home to one of the most highly ranked entrepreneurship programs in the country. In IDS 401 - What’s the Big Idea?: Technology Innovation , students are exposed to many aspects of the creative entrepreneurial process, focusing on the development and refinement of ideas that can be translated into a business venture. Students are also exposed to principles and practice of design that are critical to the development of new products and services. After successfully completing IDS 401 , students are eligible to formally apply for the IDS minor, at which point they will enroll in IDS 402 - Idea2Startup . In IDS 402 , students work in teams to translate ideas into viable startup businesses, addressing all of the key components of that process from business proposal development to funding. To complete the IDS minor, students must fulfill the entrepreneurial experience requirement under the supervision of a faculty member and a suitable professional mentor. Students will typically fulfill the experience requirement by spending one or more semesters working at the Syracuse Technology Garden, a local incubator of technology-oriented businesses. At the Tech Garden, students will work at the Student Sandbox under the direction of an Entrepreneur in Residence and with support from volunteer mentors.

Required courses make up between 10 and 15 credits required for the minor, depending on how many credits a student chooses to earn during their entrepreneurial experience. The remaining 3-8 credits are taken as electives, drawn from a long list of options available from four different SU schools and colleges. Of the total of 18 credits required to earn the minor, 12 credits must be in courses numbered 300 or higher. In addition, no more than 3 elective credits can be double counted to fulfill requirements of another major or minor on campus.

The IDS minor is administered by the School of Information Studies. There are no requirements for admission other than registration for IDS 402 . Registration for IDS 402  requires a student to submit a venture proposal to the course instructor.