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Saudi Arabia Taps McMaster Tech Entrepreneurship Expertise
July 14, 2010
University professors from Saudi Arabia are in Canada for two weeks to take a crash course on how to teach and cultivate technology-based entrepreneurship.
“Canada and Saudi Arabia share a similar challenge,” explains Rafik Loutfy, Director of the Xerox Centre for Engineering Entrepreneurship and Innovation (XCEEi) at McMaster University. “Both economies are reliant on natural resources and are looking for ways to diversify into new technologies to strengthen their economies. Both see a common solution: evolving a culture of technology entrepreneurship and innovation.”
The 14 professors represent various Faculties at King Abdul-Aziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The program began at McMaster on July 5, moves to Toronto until July 14, and wraps up at McMaster on July 15.
Over the two weeks, the professors will work their way through a technology start-up model developed by Prof. Loutfy and taught to Master’s students. The model can be used by new ventures or by large companies looking to develop internal ideas. The professors will also learn how this model is being applied to a new entrepreneurship stream in the five-year Engineering and Management undergraduate program at McMaster.
“The course is designed to familiarize the professors with the kinds of opportunities and problems that are likely to be encountered by technology entrepreneurs in real life,” said David Potter, director of the Engineering and Management program. “They will learn the steps involved in taking a technology from lab to market, how to pitch investors, and meet with the technology business community.”
Discussions about the roles of universities, industry, and governments in entrepreneurship will also be undertaken. These sessions are paired with visits to McMaster Innovation Park and McMaster’s Faculty of Health Sciences on July 5, Xerox Research Centre of Canada on July 7, and MaRS on July 12.
The initiative was organized through Essamy International, an XCEEi start-up company that is franchising the Centre’s entrepreneurship model globally.
XCEEi is one of three centers that form the Walter G. Booth School of Engineering Practice. The School offers specialized graduate programs in entrepreneurship and innovation, public policy, and design for training engineers and scientists.
