Students and teaching assistants from the Innovation, Creativity, Entrepreneurship Bootcamp course celebrate the end of an intense three weeks of work. Photo: Demetri Giannitsios
(Edmonton) A team of students who claimed "desperation breeds ingenuity" has won top prize in an inaugural entrepreneurship bootcamp offered to engineering, business, and science students.
They were among four interdisciplinary teams given three weeks to research, develop, and pitch a business idea in the first-ever Innovation, Creativity, and Innovation Entrepreneurship Bootcamp course.
Their product, called Wanderwall, is an online service that would help photographers and videographers find choice locations for their artistic endeavours.
The platform connects these creatives with individuals willing to rent out their homes or properties for video production or photography sessions.
"If you have a home or a nice garden, or even a barn, Wanderwall will connect you with people who will book that location from you," said team member Sarah Hoven, a fourth-year computer science student. "We're creating a service to help people find locations they can rent-hopefully at a lower rate."
"It opens up spaces that haven't been available to photographers before," added Jaydon Vanselow, a second-year engineering student.
The team applied the "creativity" aspect of the course to come up with the idea for their service. The three weren't completely satisfied with their first business idea, an events platform to connect people to "things to do." So they used an online word generator to help brainstorm for ideas. The words "wander" and "wall" appeared a search, and the team began considering backdrops for photography.
"We had an assignment due that day and it was either hand in our original plan or come up with something new," said Ejouan Agena, a first-year engineering student. "Desperation breeds ingenuity."
Learning entrepreneurship in Iceland
The University of Alberta course has its roots in Iceland. A year ago, U of A professors and students participated in a similar course at the University of Reykjavik. The idea all along was to offer the course at the U of A.
A key aspect of the three-credit option class, available only to students in engineering, business, and science, is that they learn to work with people who have different skill sets and knowledge.
The three disciplines are complimentary, said one student: "Science tells you if something is possible, engineering tells you if it is scalable, and business tells you if it can be sold."
"The problems of today are too complex to solve by looking through the lens of a single discipline," said mechanical engineering professor Mike Lipsett, one of the three lead instructors. "In this course, students in engineering, business, and science had to work together."
Because of their combined strengths, he added, the teams "developed more comprehensive solutions and more feasible business plans."
Department of Computer Science Chair Mario Nascimento, another lead instructor, said he hoped students would make connections between scholarship and working on a startup.
"I want our students to learn that entrepreneurship is a whole process not unlike research," he said. "You identify a problem, develop a hypothesis and try a solution-then repeat."
"We need to do a better job of building a community of creators and inventors," added Alberta School of Business professor Tony Briggs, adding that by being put into interdisciplinary teams, the students "have to understand and speak the same language, and appreciate what others bring to the table."
Students were excited about the opportunity to develop their creative and entrepreneurial muscles.
"I wanted to explore as much about business as I can, and I wanted to take advantage of the nearly one-to-one ratio of teaching assistants," said Luke Dela Cruz, a computer engineering student who's entering his third year of studies.
"I'm really excited about gaining this experience," said Francis Bobiarski. The first-year business student is minoring in entrepreneurship and made a personal vow to try starting a business this year.
"I decided that this summer it is time to take some steps," he said. "If I didn't start something this year, I would have just died. It's just something I need to figure out right now, and with this course, I have a greater understanding of what's required."