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The University of Florida Integrated Technology Ventures
(ITV) program is designed to provide engineering, business, and law
students
with an intense, immersive entrepreneurial experience. The
ITV program builds upon successful UF industry interaction
model programs such as the Integrated
Product and Process Design (IPPD) program, where multidisciplinary
student teams design
and build authentic industry-sponsored products; the Center
for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI), the Office
of Technology Licensing (OTL), and two university supported
technology
start-up incubator facilities. The students learn the
entrepreneurial process as members of a virtual company led
by a CEO experienced in technology-based start ups. The company is composed of a CEO,
a business development team of up to 6 Master of Science in Entrepreneurship students (coached by
entrepreneurial faculty), a multidisciplinary technology
development team
of 6 undergraduate engineers (coached by engineering faculty), and a legal team of up to 3 Intellectual Property Track law students (coached by law adjunct faculty).
The companies report to a board of directors that include faculty and a variety of commercialization
specialists. The technology
development team participates in the two-semester IPPD
course, which has been supplemented with Entrepreneurship
lectures. Each virtual company is responsible for creating
a business plan, an alpha system prototype, and a presentation suitable for obtaining venture funding.
ITV Company Organization
Expectations for ITV stakeholders
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