Numerous studies offer a framework for issues the Center for the Integration of Science and Industry seeks to address. Recent articles are outlined below.

Recent article:

Learning Objectives and Content of Science Curricula for Undergraduate Management Education, Journal of Management Education, by Fred D. Ledley & Stephen S. Holt

Abstract:

Business is progressively integrating technologies and R&D with corporate and business strategy. This trend is creating increasing demand for executives and managers who have sufficient technology-centered knowledge to work effectively in interdisciplinary environments. This study addresses how management education could address the growing need for such pluralistic training by embracing development of undergraduate science curriculum attuned to the needs of business students. We found that science courses are part of the required curriculum at 80% of BusinessWeek’s “top business schools.” To assess what content and learning objectives might best meet the needs of business students, we conducted a survey of educators from business, science, and arts and sciences in general and examined curriculum developed explicitly for business students at two freestanding business institutions. These results suggest that science courses could better serve business education by providing a broad picture of scientific principles and their presence in everyday life, promoting critical thinking and inductive reasoning, and enabling understanding of scientific research, technical innovation, and product development as well as their ethical and social implications. Development of such courses would require collaboration between management and science educators to ensure that the scientific content of the courses meet the highest standards of evidence-based science education and the business context is grounded in rigorous management principles and practices.

Recent Podcast:

Learning Objectives and Content of Science Curricula for Undergraduate Management Education, November 2012

Summary:

Professor Fred Ledley of Bentley University talks with editor Jane Schmidt-Wilk about his paper, co-authored by Stephen Holt of Olin College, which argues that business programs should require science courses designed expressly to meet the needs of business students.

Recent article:

Patterns of technological innoviation in biotech, Nature Biotechnology, by Laura M. McNamee & Fred D. Ledley

Abstract:

Theories of innovation posit that effective product development and value creation require business models and strategies matched to the stage of technology evolution. Such theories are predicated on patterns of technology evolution observed in other fields, where periods of exponential advancement are followed by limits and obsolescence as new technologies emerge. In this paper, we describe analogous patterns of technological evolution for three classes of therapeutic biotechnologies—somatic gene therapy, nucleotide therapeutics, and monoclonal antibodies—and discuss the potential relevance of business innovation theories to the biotechnology industry.

Recent article:

Bridging the Boundary between Science and Business, The International Journal of Science in Society, by Fred Ledley

Abstract: 

Theories of innovation posit that effective product development and value creation require business models and strategies matched to the stage of technology evolution. Such theories are predicated on patterns of technology evolution observed in other fields, where periods of exponential advancement are followed by limits and obsolescence as new technologies emerge. In this paper, we describe analogous patterns of technological evolution for three classes of therapeutic biotechnologies—somatic gene therapy, nucleotide therapeutics, and monoclonal antibodies—and discuss the potential relevance of business innovation theories to the biotechnology industry.