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E&I Certificate Requirements

At the successful completion of the two-year E&I Track and the MBA, participants will receive a Certificate in Entrepreneurship & Innovation, issued by the MIT Sloan School concurrent with the award of the MBA degree by MIT.
 
The Certificate certifies that the recipient has completed an intense program of studies and activities, focused upon launching and developing emerging technology companies.
 
To obtain a Certificate in Entrepreneurship & Innovation students must fulfill all 5 requirements listed below. 
 

1. General requirement - complete all the following courses:

  • 15.360 Introduction to Technological Entrepreneurship (Fall of first year, 3 units) This seminar provides an overview of the field of entrepreneurship, and creates special access to MIT’s renowned entrepreneurial network.
  • ES.580 - E&I Study Tour (Spring of first year, March SIP Week, 2 SIP credits) Students travel to Silicon Valley to network with entrepreneurs, VCs, and start-ups in the valley. Must be registered for all of the other E&I Spring Term of 1st year requirements.
  • 15.390 New Enterprises (Fall/Spring, 9 units) MIT's business plans course which also features successful entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. (Must be taken in Spring Term of 1st year.)
  • 15.390 co-requisite course, 15.911 Entrepreneurial Strategy (H2, Spring of first year, 6 units).

 

2. Firm-level requirement - complete at least one course from:

  • 15.389 Global Entrepreneurship Lab: Emerging Markets (Fall, 12 units) Student teams undertake January internship with companies located outside of the U.S., often in developing economies and emerging markets. Can only be taken during Second Year.
  • 15.399 Entrepreneurship Lab  (Fall/Spring, 12 units) Teams of MIT Sloan and Science/Engineering students undertake problem-solving projects with CEOs of young emerging technology companies.
 

3. Product-level requirement - complete at least one course from:

  • 15.371J/10.807J Innovation Teams: Commercializing Emerging Technologies (Fall/Spring, 12 units) Joint subject among the MIT Deshpande Center, the MIT Media Lab, and the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship.  Covers tools for commercial evaluation, commercialization strategy and technology transfer.  Mixed teams of MIT Sloan and other MIT students explore and develop real commercialization plans and start-up potential for selected MIT faculty research projects across labs in Science, Engineering and Media research. Some teams have gone on to venture formation.
  • 15.783J/2.739J/ESD.32J Product Design & Development (Spring, 12 units) Covers modern tools and methods for product design and development. The cornerstone is a project in which teams of management, engineering, and industrial design students conceive, design, and prototype a physical product.
  • 15.366 Energy Ventures (Fall, 12 units) Project-based subject focusing on energy sector companies. Explores how innovation and entrepreneurial concepts apply (or do not apply) to the significant opportunities in this quarter. Teams of MIT Sloan other MIT students create new ventures specifically for the energy sector. Lecturers guide teams through key elements of their projects. Concurrent enrollment in 15.933 recommended.
  • 15.376J/MAS.664 Digital Innovations (Spring, 9 units) Seminar surveys internal and external entrepreneurship, based on Media Lab technologies, to increase understanding of how digital innovations grow into societal change. Explores a range of business models and opportunities enabled by emerging Media Lab innovations. Students craft a business analysis for one of the featured technology innovations. Past analyses have become the basis for research, publications, and new ventures. Particular focus on personal health care, mobile transactions, and new media.
  • 15.377J/6.932J Linked Data Ventures (Fall) Linked Data Ventures is a graduate-level class that combines traditional academics with practitioner perspectives and practical hands-on experience, to empower students to launch new ventures using this technology. A team-based project will culminate in sustainable prototypes that could be freeware or have the potential to be commercialized in the future, and will serve as a good launching point for entering into the MIT $100k competition. At the end of the semester, each project team will do a business presentation in front of the whole class and a panel of outside experts and judges, as well as a technical presentation as the conclusion of the lab.
  • Other subjects are possible, with the advanced approval of Professor Edward Roberts, the Faculty Chair of the E&I Track. 
 

4. Startup requirement - engage in at least one MIT $100K business plan submission:

During their two years at MIT Sloan all E&I students must actively engage in at least one student team that enters the MIT $100K Business Plan Competition in the Spring semester. The $100K Elevator Pitch Contest (EPC) and ACCELERATE Contest are insufficient to fulfill this requirement, but are recommended to meet potential teammates across campus and from other universities.  Those students who plan to take G-Lab are strongly encouraged to engage in the $100K competition in the Spring semester of their first year. Full participation in the MIT Clean Energy Business Plan Competition is the equivalent of the $100K Requirement.
 

5. Entrepreneurship Electives requirement – 18 units:

Note that courses that are used by an E&I student to meet his/her General, Firm-level or Product requirements do not count toward the required additional units of entrepreneurship electives. But, courses shown above in those categories that were NOT used to fulfill the above requirements are eligible for these 18 additional elective units. Some elective courses shown below may have prerequisites. Please consult the MIT course catalog, or the appropriate instructor.
 
Fall
  • 15.369 H2 Corporate Entrepreneurship: Strategies for Technology-Based New Business Development (Fall, 6 units)
  • 15.387 Technology Sales & Sales Management (Fall/Spring, 12 units)
  • 15.391 Early Stage Capital (Fall, 6 units)
  • 15.615 Basic Business Law for the Entrepreneur and Manager (Fall/Spring, 9 units)
  • 15.618 Law and Cutting-Edge Technologies (Spring, 9 units)
  • 15.828 Design and Marketing New Products (Fall, 9 units)
  • 15.385 Social Entrepreneurship (Fall, 6 units)
  • 15.386 Managing in Adversity: The CEO Perspective (Fall & Spring, 6 units)
  • 15.375J/MAS.665J Developmental Entrepreneurship (Fall, 12 units)
Spring
  • 15.071 The Analytical Edge (Spring, 12 units)
  • 15.358 The Business of Software and Digital Platforms (Spring, 9 units)
  • 15.356 How to Develop Breakthrough Products & Services (Spring, 6 units)
  • 15.363 Strategic Decision Making in the Biomedical Business (Spring, 9 units)
  • 15.365J/ESD.58J Disruptive Technologies: Predator or Prey? (Spring, 9 units)
  • 15.387 Technology Sales & Sales Management (Fall/Spring, 12 units)
  • 15.394 Dilemmas in Founding New Ventures (Spring, 9 units) (Also meets the MIT Sloan Leadership Requirement.)
  • 15.S05 (was 15.431) Entrepreneurial Finance (Spring, 9 units)
  • 15.649 Special Seminar in Law: Law and Cutting-Edge Technologies
Substitutions and Waivers
 
The E&I Track is flexible in approving APPROPRIATE substitutes, and even waivers, of specific Certificate requirements. Courses taken at MIT or one of Harvard's graduate schools MAY substitute for fulfilling one of the E&I requirements. The syllabus and grade of the proposed substitute subject must be available for review.
 
For the Firm-Level Requirement, we consider extensive work done BEYOND the usual requirements of ChinaLab, IndiaLab and the like as being a possible equivalent of G-Lab. The usual requirements of those subjects do NOT meet the E&I Firm-Level Requirement.
 
For the Product-Level Requirement, a number of prior students have fulfilled the requirement by carrying out a credited Special Studies project to develop a new product or a detailed plan for a new firm, under the supervision of and grading by an MIT Sloan faculty member, but following the overall outline of 15.371. Development of a business plan by itself is not adequate to meet this requirement.
 
The Managing Directors of the MIT $100K Business Plan Competition and of the MIT Clean Energy Prize are not permitted by the rules of those organizations to participate in those competitions. These two leadership roles are accepted as meeting the Startup $100K Requirement.
 
In all of these cases, E&I students should send written notes, providing supportive details, to the Faculty Chair of the E&I Track to request substitution authorization in advance of enrolling in any subject that they propose to use as a substitute for any E&I requirement.
 

Additional MIT Sloan Requirements for the MBA

To obtain their MBA from the MIT Sloan School, E&I participants must also complete the Sloan Core semester, the Sloan Innovation Period requirement, a leadership course and additional elective courses to meet the 144 elective units degree requirement for the MBA program.
 
Some credits toward your MIT Sloan degree may be obtained by taking classes at other local universities. You must get advance permission from the E&I Track Chair to apply these to E&I Certificate requirements.