0:04 A new entrepreneurship course at Maryland headed into the wild this

past fall
0:09 with a premise that is also a little wild: send students outdoors to test
0:13 their prototypes for hiking and camping products
0:15 professor Oliver Schlake is a former product development engineer
0:20 who teaches courses on entrepreneurship, innovation
0:23 strategy, and creativity in the Robert H. Smith School of Business
0:27 with the support to the University of Maryland's Academy for
Innovation and
0:31 Entrepreneurship
0:32 he has created the new class, Creativity and Innovation for Business
Leaders:
0:36 Outdoor Edition. I personally love the outdoors and I was interested
in the
0:41 technology in the gadgets you can have to make the outdoors more
interesting
0:46 And so I brought this together with the idea of bringing in students
0:49 in the classroom, but also bringing them outside to test things in the
real world
0:53 which is in our case out on the camping or hiking environment.
0:57 Over the 12-week course undergraduates are split into teams to
brainstorm
1:02 product ideas
1:03 then design, produce, and refine their prototypes
1:06 using creative tools such as a 3D printer with a goal eventually
launching

1:11 a crowdfunding campaign through a website such as Kickstarter.

1:15 This class is really cool because it gives me an opportunity to have
hands-on
1:19 learning
1:19 there's no textbooks, there's no busy work. It is so much more
1:23 real when you know that you're designing something for the real
world you really have
1:27 potential to make money
1:28 from this product. Her team, one of eight,
1:31 is designing a waterproof boot cover. Other prototypes in
development include a
1:36 survival smartphone case,
1:38 an accompanying free app, and an outdoors vest
1:41 with detachable backpack. The teams are made up of students from
a variety of
1:45 majors
1:46 such as engineering, computer science, and communication who
can each lend a
1:50 different skill set to the process of designing,
1:53 building, and marketing their product. It all comes together in
building a new
1:57 product. The engineers can develop it, the artist can help design,
2:01 and then the journalists write up what we want branded. Twice this
past semester
2:05 students spent a full day at an outdoor camp site testing and refining
their

2:09 product prototypes

2:10 One of the things that makes it a great experience is the fact that we
don't
2:14 We aren't confined to a classroom and that really gives a chance to
2:17 experience things that we've never experienced before as well as be
able to
2:21 test our product in
2:22 a different kind of environment. In addition, by working with
associates at Bass Pro
2:26 Shops,
2:27 a national outdoor retail chain, students toured one of its stores
2:31 to learn about consumer preferences, product design, and marketing
techniques
2:36 they collected feedback from customers and tips from company
experts.
2:40 Talking to actual like the people who we are going to be selling it to
2:44 going to the going to the store and talking to employees that was
really
2:48 helpful.
2:48 Halfway through the class, students selected the four most
promising products
2:53 which they further refine as they prepare to pitch to present for
2:57 crowdfunding
2:58 or investor money. These finalists included
3:01 the waterproof hiking shoe cover, a portable clothes dryer,

3:05 a kit of buckets and strainers, and a vest

3:09 that can be converted into a backpack. Via webcam, representatives
of Bass Pro
3:14 Shops
3:15 listened to the students in-class presentations, asked questions,
3:18 and offered advice. Not all of the products will be successful,
3:22 but of course part of the experience is the pathway to it and even
though the
3:26 product is not the next multi-million dollar product
3:28 probably the next one might be the one that can be successful,
3:32 but this is an environment where you can get an A by failing,
3:35 but failing intelligently.