Entrepreneurial Solutions
Course Number 1685
14 Sessions
Paper
Course Overview
The world has a seemingly infinite supply of problems, from pandemics to climate change. The basic premise of this course is that entrepreneurs view problems as opportunities. If healthcare is expensive and ineffective, entrepreneurial teams create ventures (for-profit or not-for-profit) to deliver better health outcomes at lower cost. If education at all levels costs too much, takes too long, and is mediocre, entrepreneurial teams explore ways to deliver better learning outcomes faster and less expensively to more people. If burning fossil fuels creates damaging greenhouse gases, then there are opportunities to find new, cleaner ways to produce energy or to mitigate its negative impact. The course will focus on entrepreneurial efforts in healthcare, education, and the intersection of energy and climate, with an emphasis on opportunities and teams in the US.
The course identifies common issues in each domain. We measure and reward inputs not outcomes. In healthcare, we pay based on services provided, not affordable health. In education, we focus on time in seat and courses taken, not mastery or broader goals like critical thinking, lifelong learning, and problem solving. In energy and climate, we don’t measure and address externalities (e.g., greenhouse gases) and we don’t pay sufficient attention to energy and human thriving. As a result, education is expensive and mediocre (at best); healthcare is expensive, low quality, and unequally distributed; and energy is dirty and costs too much.
The course identifies situations in which competent, well-funded teams are attacking root causes with novel solutions that have global applications.
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