I&E 261: Social Innovation
Description
I&E 261, taught by Mr Matthew Nash, provides an overview of social innovation in an interactive and experiential way. It begins by assessing problems with current mental and organizational models for addressing social needs and the resulting desire for, and urgency of, innovative approaches. The course also develops a theory of innovation and describes examples of persons and organizations demonstrating innovative approaches. Ultimately, students leave the class with a framework and tools for imagining their own engagement in social innovation. ​
Reflection
I took I&E 261 as my gateway into the certificate, since the course addresses the importance of innovation in solving complex modern-day problems, which is what attracts me to this program to begin with. Having spent almost a year before taking the class as a Pratt student, I believe my mindset thus far had been a bit limited to interacting mostly with other engineers and solving problems within the lab. Therefore, I wanted to experience the depth of thought required to solve multi-faceted social issues and also collaborate with people from different educational backgrounds than mine. The course allowed me to achieve all these goals, and many more – mainly due to its highly practical and interactive approach. I also gained a lot from the several guest speakers who shared their experiences related to social innovation and was inspired to work in the sector at some point myself as well.
Artifact
This link leads to my final analysis report on the problem of financial exclusion and illiteracy in developing countries. Building this report required an in-depth investigation into the issue from multiple perspectives – including data analysis, media theory and other socio-political factors relevant to everyday life in rural communities. The skills and information I learned during this project have furthered my interest in this field, and even influenced other projects I have undertaken since.
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Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MsD_-xB8_3IclQJSCeYjbD_DuZM0cDB3/view?usp=sharing
I&E 281:Â Tech Commercialisation
Description
This course, instructed by Dr Salman Azhar, covers topics related to the assessment, development of businesses in technical areas such as pharmaceuticals, computer science, energy, and medical devices. The lectures and assignments are organized around the basic elements of taking technology from conception to development and commercialization, including understanding technology, developing a plan to get to market, and assessing the potential market. The course combines lecture, case assignments, and discussion of real technology development opportunities.​
Reflection
Having taken I&E 261 with Mr Nash helped me appreciate experiential and practical learning and drew my interest to ways in which entrepreneurship can be used to benefit society. As an aspiring Computer Engineer, I then decided to pursue this interest through the "Basics of Technology Commercialisation". Here, I was looking for an introduction to the rapidly growing world of tech-startups - and I believe I got a marvellous one through this course. Despite the unprecedented disruption in classes due to COVID-19, we were able to breakdown and analyse the various components such as financials, intellectual property and leadership that are behind any successful venture. Not having much experience in startups, I was grateful the lessons were reinforced with interactive exposure to successful entrepreneurs from all over the US as well. I specifically enjoyed the opportunity of then putting this knowledge to practice under the watchful and often critical eye of Dr Azhar and our TA Steven Shaw to create and then pitch a business idea of my own.
Artifact
For this course, I would like to present a deck pitch for the start-up that my team and I developed for our final project. Our business idea, an AI-powered digital hedge fund, was aimed at making specialised financial services more accessible for small businesses in America. Working on this project was indeed a very rewarding experience, more so because we were aware of the benefits such a business could have in light of the unfortunate COVID-19 pandemic. Working on this project taught me valuable lessons in finance and business organisation – and support from Dr Azhar also helped me communicate my ideas more effectively than I could ever before.​
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Link - https://app.slidebean.com/p/g0VHhNK2Ej/Mass-Investing-3