Innovation New Jersey
  • Home
  • Our Coalition
    • Contact Us
  • News
  • Resources
    • State Supports
    • Federal Supports
    • Higher Ed Supports
  • Join Us

Innovation News

Everything Innovation. Everything New Jersey.
Follow us and stay connected.

Interview: Rutgers Honors College’s Innovation Laboratory Teaches Students How to Bring Ideas to Life

12/15/2016

0 Comments

 
New Brunswick, NJ — Mukesh M. Patel, a successful entrepreneur, mentor, business attorney and adjunct professor at Rutgers Business School and Rutgers School of Law who has helped many startup companies develop their business plans and raise significant equity funding, heads the Innovation Lab at the Honors College at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.
 
Patel joined the college as its inaugural director of innovation this past summer.
 
The Honors College incorporated the Innovation Lab into its curriculum to enable students to collaborate across disciplines and tackle complex and global problems in tangible ways.
 
The Honors College mission course, “the Forum,” challenges first-year students to come up with ideas for innovations that could solve societal issues and become sustainable, profitable ventures. Of the more than 100 ideas pitched last year, six advanced to become the focus for hands-on development in the Innovation Lab by second-year students.
 
Rutgers Today recently spoke with Patel about how the Innovation Lab is designed to work and the student projects in development.
​What is the Innovation Lab?
 
Patel: First, it is a physical space where students of different disciplines and passions come together to develop their ideas. By its design, the lab avoids silos and breaks down boundaries. We call the process “design-thinking,” and it’s what occurs when teams work collaboratively on projects small or large.
 
We have equipment, such as 3-D printers, mini-computers with a digital design studio, sensor lab, and other gadgetry to test hypotheses, create prototypes and minimally viable products (MVPs) and run pilot programs.
 
Conceptually, the lab represents how Honors College students learn critical skills vital to developing and bringing an idea to market. This includes how to recruit students from the university because of the expertise they could contribute, plus marketing, public relations and concept testing.
 
What are the projects under development in the Innovation Lab this year?
 
Patel: The projects include RFInD, a wearable electronic device programmed with personal medical information to help emergency health care providers find and treat patients in distress; eUse-IT, a system for collecting and repairing laptop computers to reduce electronic waste while making computer devices more accessible to lower-income demographics; Nutrivide, a device resembling a pacifier that provides nutrients to undernourished newborns; Oasis, a process for delivering nutritious food to needy communities and food deserts; Exalight, a specially-designed blanket to prevent neonatal jaundice and potentially treat certain skin conditions; and Merakhi, a Bluetooth and audio wearable tech device to help prevent sexual assault while providing education and empowerment in connection with rape and assault cultures.
 
What are the tangible goals of the Innovation Lab?
 
Patel: We teach students how to build an entrepreneurial ecosystem. We expose them to the resources and the basics of building a project through a series of learning opportunities: lectures, discussions, debates and practical workshops throughout the tri-state area.
 
Students attend at least 10 events that revolve around four themes: innovation, startups, social ventures and social impact. We teach them how to raise capital, how to adapt a product idea to fit a need (product-market fit) and how to become inspired about a project while learning how to lead and inspire team collaboration.
 
We expose them to CEOs and top executives of public and private companies and thought leaders and how to work with other startups.  They may also use laboratories at other institutions or businesses, wherever they determine they can receive assistance in developing their venture.
 
We are planning field trips to, and exploring opportunities for collaboration with, business and engineering schools, innovation labs and entrepreneurship centers at other universities such as Princeton, Columbia, Harvard, MIT, NJIT, Stevens and Montclair State University.
 
The Innovation Lab fellows will also compete in state, national and global venture competitions. In fact, in our first innovation competition run by the New Jersey Technology Council, two of our venture teams placed in the top position as finalists earning a $1,000 cash prize per team.
 
 In addition, two of the venture teams were accepted into the Rutgers Law School Entrepreneurship Clinic, where they qualify for complimentary legal services.
 
Furthermore, all six venture teams were accepted to participate in the Social Entrepreneurship Venture Summit in New York City run by the KIND Foundation and Venture for America, where our students met with social innovators such as Daniel Lubetzky (founder and CEO of KIND Snacks and the KIND Foundation), Andrew Yang (founder and CEO of Venture for America), and Arianna Huffington (founder and CEO of Huffington Post and Thrive Global). 
 
What are the key lessons you want students to learn?
 
Patel:  We teach thought-leadership and stress the importance of not being afraid of failure, to push the boundaries. We emphasize exhausting all free resources before applying for the limited seed money available. We want students to learn what to do to advance a project resourcefully while applying lean methodologies.
 
We want them to understand how, as 19-year-olds, they can have a significant impact on the world. That’s a big part of the process. They need to learn persistence and how to pivot; to go through the journey and experience the process. We want them to be inspired for what they want to do. We want their impact to be long-term.
 
They are required to build an advisory board, but not only consisting of people they know. They start forming relationships and determining whatever the venture needs. This requires them to reach further. We want them to think that way. We want them to experience what to do when they are told “no.”
 
The key is to teach them not to let obstacles get in the way of good ideas going forward. They learn and practice grit.
 
How will you judge success of these projects?
 
Patel: You can judge success in many ways. If you fail and nothing works, that could be a huge success because you took a huge risk, because you embraced failure, and hopefully learned from it. We say don’t be afraid of failure and to fail fast to succeed faster. A failure at one point could count as a success because that will mean you are one step closer to what might work.
 
The more obvious success is something that becomes a national or global enterprise with a social impact, especially something with sustainability and profitability that creates opportunities to hire and create jobs.
 
What drove you to accept the innovation position at the Honors College and how many ideas do you anticipate reaching production?
 
Patel: As a Rutgers alumnus, I wanted to give back by engaging through designing and leading an innovative and creative platform for social impact. I was inspired by the opportunity to work with the top leaders at the Honors College who are catalysts, thought leaders, and game changers.
 
They believed in and supported my vision and model to create something special, an experiential, collaborative, multi- and interdisciplinary ecosystem for impact through social innovation. I anticipate a significant percentage of the ideas will reach various phases of production, especially considering the creativity and drive of our students, the Innovation Lab fellows.
 
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Do not miss a single innovative moment and sign up for our newsletter!
    Weekly updates


    Categories

    All
    3D Printing
    Academia
    Acquisitions
    Aerospace
    Agriculture
    AIDS
    Algae
    Alumni
    Animals
    Architecture
    Astrophysics
    Autism
    Awards
    Big Data
    Bioethics
    Biofuel
    Biomedical
    BioNJ
    Bioterrorism
    Bit Coins
    Brain Health
    Business
    Camden
    Cancer
    CCollege
    Cellular
    Centenary
    Chemistry
    ChooseNJ
    Climate Change
    Clinical Trials
    Cloud Tech
    Collaboration
    Computing
    Congress
    Coriell
    Council On Innovation
    Crowdfunding
    Cybersecurity
    DARPA
    Defense
    Degree
    Dementia
    Dental Health
    DOC
    DOD
    DOE
    Drew
    Drones
    Drug Creation
    Einstein's Alley
    Electricity
    Energy
    Engineering
    Entrepreneurship
    Environmental
    FAA
    Fairleigh Dickinson
    FDA
    Federal Budget
    Federal Government
    Federal Labs
    Federal Program
    Finance
    Food Science
    Fort Monmouth
    Fuel Cells
    Funding
    Genome
    Geography
    Geology
    Global Competition
    Google
    Governor Christie
    Grant
    Hackensack
    HackensackUMC
    Healthcare
    Health Care
    HHS
    HINJ
    Hospitals
    Immigration
    Incubator
    Infrastructure
    International
    Internet
    Investor
    IoT
    IP
    IT
    Jobs
    Johnson & Johnson
    K-12
    Kean
    Kessler
    Legislation
    Logistics
    Manufacturing
    Medical Devices
    Med School
    Mental Health
    Mentor
    Microorganisms
    Molecular Biology
    Montclair
    NAS
    Neuroscience
    Newark
    New Jersey
    NIFA
    NIH
    NIST
    NJBDA
    NJBIA
    NJ Chemistry Council
    NJCU
    NJDOLWD
    NJEDA
    NJEDge
    NJHF
    NJII
    NJIT
    NJMEP
    NJPAC
    NJPRO
    NJTC
    Nonprofit
    NSF
    OpEd
    Open Data
    OSHE
    OSTP
    Parasite
    Patents
    Paterson
    Patients
    Perth Amboy
    Pharma
    POTUS
    PPPL
    Princeton
    Prosthetics
    Ranking
    Rare Disease
    R&D Council
    Report
    Resiliency
    Rider
    Robotics
    Rowan
    Rutgers
    SBA
    Seton Hall
    Siemens
    Smart Car
    Smart Cities
    Software
    Solar
    Space
    SSTI
    Startup
    State Government
    STEM
    Stevens
    Stockton
    Subatomic
    Supports
    Sustainability
    Taxes
    TCNJ
    Teachers
    Telecom
    Therapy
    Thermodynamics
    Transportation
    Undergraduate
    USEDA
    Verizon
    Video Game
    Virtual Reality
    Water
    WHO
    William Paterson
    Women In STEM
    Workforce Development

Home   Coalition   News   Resources   Events   Join Us
Picture
Innovation New Jersey Coalition
10 West Lafayette Street
Trenton, NJ 08608-2002
609-858-9507