| Module Code | CSU44081 |
| Module Name | Entrepreneurship & High-Tech Venture Creation |
| ECTS Weighting | 5 ECTS |
| Semester Taught | Semester 2 |
| Module Coordinator/s | Prof. Vinny Cahill |
Module Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module, students will be able to:
- Deploy the basic skills needed to develop, validate the feasibility of, and make the case for a business idea to underpin a scalable high-tech venture including undertaking appropriate user and customer engagement and needs analysis, desk research including market research and competitor analysis, potential prototyping activities, and financial planning.
- Recognise and validate potential commercial opportunities.
- Explain how high-tech companies are financed, from bootstrapping to investment rounds and stock market listing, and what factors drive their valuation.
- Describe a product or service to a non-technical audience.
- Make a convincing case (verbally or otherwise) for the value of a product or service to a potential customer, investor, or other stakeholder.
Module Content
Includes:
- The ‘Entrepreneurial Perspective’;
- Opportunity recognition and evaluation;
- Defining a business model;
- Building and managing a team;
- Initial funding and financing growth;
- Developing and executing a business plan;
- Marketing and promoting an idea;
- Protecting intellectual property.
Teaching and Learning Methods
Lectures, use of blogs, individual and/or group presentations, and (mentored) project work.
Assessment Details
| Assessment Component | Brief Description | Learning Outcomes Addressed | % of Total | Week Set | Week Due |
| Group Business Idea Development | Develop a business idea to underpin a scalable high-tech venture. | All | 80% | Week 1 | Week 12 |
| Quiz 1 | 20 questions covering topics from early weeks of the course. | L01-L04 | 10% | Week 6 | Week 6 |
| Quiz 2 | 20 questions covering topics from later weeks of the course. | L01-L04 | 10% | Week 12 | Week 12 |
Reassessment Details
Individual Business Idea Development (100%).
Contact Hours and Indicative Student Workload
| Contact Hours (scheduled hours per student over full module), broken down by: | 22 hours |
| Lectures | 11 hours |
| Laboratory | 0 hours |
| Tutorial or seminar | 11 hours |
| Other | 0 hours |
| Independent Study (outside scheduled contact hours), broken down by: | 78 hours |
| Preparation for classes and review of material | 11 hours |
| Completion of assessments (principally Business Idea Development) | 67 hours |
| Total Hours | 100 hours |
Recommended Reading List
- Entrepreneurship: Successfully Launching New Ventures, (latest edition), Barringer, B.R. & Ireland, R.D., Pearson Education, New Jersey.
Module Pre-requisites
Prerequisite modules: N/A
Other/alternative non-module prerequisites: N/A
Module Co-requisites
N/A