Innovation Engineering — a new nine-month certificate program focusing on creating and implementing successful ventures — will launch this fall in Portland. Offered through Academic Extension at the UO, the three-course sequence will focus on reasoning, problem solving and effective communication.

“Students will master the skills used by many large and small businesses and organizations to greatly increase the probability of success for new ventures — a crucial component for long-term viability in today’s rapidly changing world of information and technology,” said Lynn Kahle, the Ehrman Giustina Professor of Marketing in the UO’s Lundquist College of Business. He will teach the noncredit courses.

Each of the three courses emphasizes one area of innovation. The first course, Create, provides a systematic approach and the theory behind it for generating innovative ideas in any field.

Communicate, the second course, combines elements of several disciplines, including the clarity of professional writing, the precision of technical writing, and the expressiveness of creative writing and communications. Students learn to translate the benefits of ideas to key target audiences.

The final course in the sequence, Commercialize, teaches students how to quantify and reduce the risks associated with creating and realizing innovations. The scientific method, experiments and statistical analyses help innovators determine the feasibility, sustainability and profitability of new ideas.

For registration information, visit http://academicextension.uoregon.edu/ieuo/index.php.