CSCI-GA-3033-004: Technology, Design and Entrepreneurship
Instructor: Prof. Lakshminarayanan Subramanian
Summer Session I
Timings: Mon-Wed: 6:00-8:20 PM
Room WWH 201
Course Objective:
The Technology, Design and Entrepreneurship class is a 6-week technology bootcamp class covering the basics of technology design, innovation and entrepreneurship.
Prerequisites: None
Overview:
This is an idea-incubation design class where students will be exposed to a spectrum of tech challenges, latest and future technology trends (using case studies) and will need to iteratively propose and refine bold computing centric ideas for real problems. Students will also initiate the process of translating their ideas to initial prototypes. Right from the beginning, students in the class will form small teams where each team will work on a single project idea that solves an important real world problem. Students will be provided exposure to basic tools and platforms that can be leveraged by individual teams in their project design and implementation. In addition to idea incubation, the class will provide a beginner's background of tech startups including: product development cycle, how to pitch your idea, product market fit, fundraising and venture capital, talking and pitching ideas to customers. Teams are expected to constantly interact with other teams to discuss and exchange ideas.
Each class will have two parts:
In addition, we will have a regular individual short sync up session with each project group twice a week basis to track progress and provide individual feedback.
Grading:
This class will be graded based on:
Class Syllabus:
Class 1: A Vision of Startup Culture
Readings:
(Optional Reading) From Zero to One, Peter Thiel
B. Masters, Peter Thiel on Startups, Apr 2012
P. Graham, "How to Start a Startup", Mar 2005
Class 2: NAE Grand Challenges
Brainstorming Tech Ideas and Grand Challenges
Reading:
NAE Grand Technical Challenges for the Century
http://www.northeastern.edu/academic-plan/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/NAE-Grand-Challenges-2008.pdf
Class 3: The Early Internet Bubble
Pitching Tech Ideas – Session 1
The Early Internet Bubble and the Search Engine Industry
Case Study 1: The Inktomi Story
Readings:
E. Brewer, "Inktomi's Wild Ride - A Personal View of the Internet Bubble", Talk at Computer History Museum, 2004
Class 4: Wearable Computing Vision
Readings:
The Challenges of Wearable Computing. Thad Starner
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~thad/p/magazine/published-part1.pdf
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~thad/p/magazine/published-part2.pdf
Class 5: Wearables and Healthcare
Pitching Tech Ideas – Session 2
Case Study 2: Fitbit, Google Lenses
Short videos:
An interview of James Park
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saVicnu0l0k
Google Diabetes Contact Lenses
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxB6Lg-AOpg
Class 6: Personalized Diagnostics and Medicine
Prototype Design – Session 1
Case Study 3: Data-driven Healthcare Innovations for Better Medicine
Startup Case Studies: 23andme, Watson
Readings:
https://api.23andme.com/res/pdf/23-12_predictivemodel_methodology_02oct2015.pdf
https://api.23andme.com/res/pdf/23-11_carrierstatus_methodology_28sep2015.pdf
Watch these videos:
23andme Talk by the Founder:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6KUf75bBEQ
IBM Watson for Healthcare
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFF9bI6e29U
Class 7: Personalized Learning
Prototype Design – Session 2
Startups: Knewton
Readings:
Knewton White paper
https://www.knewton.com/wp-content/uploads/knewton-adaptive-learning-whitepaper.pdf
Jose Ferreira, CEO of Knewton talk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uNHR0uo5Y4
Class 8: Green Computing and Alternative Energy
Readings:
Making Solar Economical http://www.ohio.edu/people/bayless/me101/NAE%20Grand%20Challenges%20for%20Engineers.pdf
Bill Weihl’s role at Google
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92PZWXfQXWU
Green Data Centers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9jdNzWq5xQ
Solar Energy Storage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzoC47ytOd4
Class 9: Deep Learning
Prototype Refinement – Session 1
Startup Case Studies: Clarifai, Facebook AI initiative
Readings:
Yann Lecun’s Interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbjVdBKfkO0
Matt Zieler’s Talk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqEW8Agk0fs
Class 10: Mobile Payments
Prototype Refinement – Session 2
Startup Case Studies: Square, M-Pesa
Readings:
Mobile Banking: Impact of M-Pesa for Mobile Banking in Kenya
http://www.nber.org/papers/w17129.pdf
How Square is Disrupting Banks
http://www.slideshare.net/patrickpijl/how-square-is-disrupting-banks
Class 11: Bitcoin and the Future of Currency
Readings:
The original Bitcoin paper
https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
Brian Armstrong: Bitcoin Interview
https://techcrunch.com/video/hard-bitcoin-questions-for-coinbases-brian-armstrong/518473748/
Class 12: Secure Cyberspace
Prototype Demo – Version 1
Startup case studies: Damballa, Menlo Security
Readings:
MenloSecurity White paper
Interview with Yinglian Xie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_xwEIR2_RQ&index=40&list=PL055Epbe6d5bTJBkaOefINeUIs5-2K6Lv
Kevin Heineman: The Journey of a Security Startup (CTO, Damballa)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeYDlOIOc9k
Class 13: Big Data
Prototype Demo and Pitch Practice
Startup case studies: Databricks
Readings:
Harnessing the Power of Spark with Databricks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTxHpvIS3CQ
Spark Papers
http://people.csail.mit.edu/matei/papers/2012/nsdi_spark.pdf
http://people.csail.mit.edu/matei/papers/2013/sigmod_shark.pdf
Class 14: Internet of Things
Startup Case Studies: Meraki, NEST, Soli
Readings:
Sanjit Biswas Talk on Meraki
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-btH98nZVE8
Project Soli and Jacquard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GJo_kPLCTQ
Tony Fadell (CEO, Nest) talks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2M2oicoiwQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMmme6wvJCw
Class 15: Urban Sensing and Informatics
Final Pitch and Demo
Startup Case Studies: Waze
Readings:
Waze interview by Noam Bardin
Rise of People Centric Sensing: Andrew Campbell et al.