CNN.com - Smart move to market bright ideas

"From lab to market" is the school's signature course.

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FT's Executive MBA Rankings
1. Wharton, U.S.
2. Kellogg, U.S.
3. Chicago GSB, U.S.
4. Stern, NY, U.S.
5. Fuqua, Duke, U.S.
6. Hong Kong UST, China
7. Columbia, U.S.
8. Instituto de Empresa, Spain
9. London Business School, UK
10. Tanaka, Imperial College, UK
Source: Financial Times 2005

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EMBA SNAPSHOT

Executives taking the top EMBA courses in the U.S., Europe and Asia have average salaries of around $130,000 to $200,000.

A typical EMBA student is likely to be aged in the early 30s, with 6-10 years of working experience.

A top EMBA course can cost $100,000. Customized courses start at a few thousand dollars.

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(CNN) -- History is littered with examples of innovative technologies and great ideas that failed to make the leap to commercial success. But one new U.S. business school believes it can carve out a niche by addressing just this challenge.

The San Diego-based Rady School, which opened its doors to MBA students for the first time last month, has tailored its degree courses to provide guidance in how to take developments to market.

Rady's curriculum has been constructed to suit professionals skilled in areas such as information technology and bio sciences where discoveries can be difficult to convert into profitable businesses.

Part of the University of California, the business school has been built from scratch during the past two years.

Its inaugural full-time MBA course comprises 60 students from around the world. Of the class, more than a quarter already have secondary degrees, including eight who have been awarded PhDs.

The school has a stated goal to build its student population during the next five years to the point where it has 400 full-time MBA students, 800 executive MBA students and more than 100 faculty members.

Rady School's assistant dean for MBA programs JoAnne Starr says the course curriculum has several key features which differentiate it in a crowded MBA market.

"We are focused on how innovations move into the marketplace," she told CNN. "Our signature course, taken by all our students, is 'From Lab to Market' in which students turn innovation into market opportunity."

Starr says the course has been designed to provide real-world experience, mentoring and inspiration as students launch an idea.

Where many MBA courses are focused along functional lines, the Rady course has specific focus on technology and life sciences, where sustained innovation is critical to eventual corporate success.

Subject areas include leadership skills, management of technology-driven firms, and quantitative analysis.

Opening a new business school in the current tough executive education climate is not something for the faint hearted. Throughout the world, schools are experiencing a downturn in enrolment applications and many are looking at how they might change their academic offerings to make them more relevant.

Rather than offering a vanilla MBA course covering the traditional business and economic fundamentals, some have opted to focus on particular areas, often aligning themselves with large companies in specific industry sectors.

Starr says it was exactly this move towards specialization that provided the impetus for the established of the Rady School in the first place.

"Rady was created by the inspiration and commitment of the community," she told CNN. "Business leaders in San Diego and Southern California expressed their desire for extraordinary, innovation-focused management education.

"Their goal was to ensure the development of leadership for emerging companies and emerging industries, by both attracting talented new professionals to the region for MBA education and by retaining great employees who might otherwise have chosen graduate education elsewhere."

While acknowledging the MBA and EMBA markets are fiercely competitive, with top students able to choose from a range of potential schools, Starr believes Rady will succeed because it appeals to a particular type of student.

"We look for a diversity of work experiences in the class, because it enriches the learning, creating a stronger MBA experience," she says. "We want students who are interested in innovation, and who are excited by the ways developments in technology and science drive innovation."

Industry experts believe the focused approach taken by Rady will be replicated by growing numbers of schools around the world. By working closely with key industry players, such a strategy ensures business school offerings remain directly relevant to students and future employers.

Smart move to market bright ideas

Course focuses on how to commercialize research

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