The Berkeley Method of Entrepreneurship
The Berkeley Method of Entrepreneurship is a holistic approach that enables engineers to be more entrepreneurial. It encompasses three main multi-faceted elements: infrastructure and supporting environment; culture, social psychology and mindset; and strategies, tactics and judgment. These are woven together through a curriculum that emphasizes experiential learning of entrepreneurship within the safe classroom environment. Courses de-emphasize grades and focus more on goals using a highly gamified and product-based learning approach that leverages real-world competition and industry assessment of success. For this paper, we will present the Berkeley Method of Entrepreneurship in detail, including the following aspects: the rationale behind the method; the activities, courses and pedagogy developed to teach the method; and the entrepreneurship ecosystem created within the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology at Berkeley and the surrounding innovation community to weave these into a coherent student experience.