The Rise of Big Data at Haas
Prof. Greg La Blanc is introducing a new course, Data Science/Data Strategy, centered on data science techniques, corporate data strategies and business models built around data. The class is already full, with 60 full-time and 60 part-time MBA students enrolled. La Blanc has worked with Haas Data Science Club members to organize a speaker series featuring industry practitioners.
Read more. See the lecture series page.
Institute Faculty Featured in California Management Review
Research from three Institute faculty is featured in the latest issue of Berkeley-Haas’ quarterly management journal. The issue includes contributions from Adjunct Prof. Henry Chesbrough (engaging with startups), Lester Center faculty director Prof. Toby Stuart (3D robotics), and Jerome Engel, senior fellow at the Lester Center (clusters of innovation). Read More. See articles on JSTOR.
Undergrads Design Frameworks for Smarter Cities
19 undergrads in the Smart Cities course taught by Solomon Darwin, executive director of the Garwood Center, are working with four of India’s developing cities and with Bay Area mayors on the smart cities concept: using digital technology and public/private partnerships to reduce costs and resource consumption, improve quality of life, and enhance engagement with residents. Read more. Visit the course website.
Can Corporations Be Taught to Innovate Like Startups?
In their new book, Hypershift, Lester Center executive director Andre Marquis and Senior Fellow Manav Subodh share how big companies can tap the innovation secrets of Berkeley-Haas startups to enter new markets, establish brand leadership, and unlock value. Read more.
Applied Innovation and Design Kicks Off at Berkeley
At the inaugural conference of the Berkeley Roundtable on Applied Innovation and Design, founded by Sara Beckman (pictured) and Dave Rochlin, EWMBA students applied skills learned in the core Problem Finding, Problem Solving course to develop solutions for PayPal and other companies. “I was impressed by all of the student teams’ ability to apply design thinking” said Hisham Ibrahim, director of product innovation at PayPal. “They brought customer empathy to the problem, re-framed it, and rapidly iterated potential solutions.” Read more.
Berkeley Founders Get Funded
Entrepreneurs with UC-Berkeley undergraduate degrees founded 284 companies that received $2.4 billion in VC financing from 2009 through August, 2014, according to PitchBook. UCB’s ranking was second only to Stanford and above that of MIT or Harvard. Read more.
Andreessen Horowitz Partner Scott Kupor Joins Haas
Scott Kupor, managing partner and COO at Andreessen Horowitz—the VC firm that’s invested in such social media powerhouses as Twitter and Facebook—joins Haas as an executive-in-residence. Scott is co-teaching the spring MBA Entrepreneurship class with Carl Nichols. Read more.
The Other “F” Word: Capitalizing on Failure
Haas faculty and Lester Center Senior Fellows John Danner and Mark Coopersmith have combined their years of experience as senior-level executives, advisors and thought leaders to offer a process for harnessing lessons learned to improve future outcomes. Get a preview of their upcoming book at the Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum on February 12. Read about the book Read about the event and register
Smart Cities through Open Innovation
Students in Garwood Center executive director Solomon Darwin’s Smart Cities class will prepare smart city proposals for five Bay Area cities. They have completed a field trip to India and now will engage with the mayors’ offices to find reductions in cost, pollution, traffic and waste, and increases in productivity and revenue. Read more.
Eat, Drink and be a Foodie
Institute postdoc Sohyeoung Kim is a guest instructor in a new student-initiated Sociology class: Social and Cultural Innovations in the Coffee & Wine industries. Students learn about the historical and contemporary issues of coffee and wine, dining and drinking culture. Read more.