For Immediate Release
Dec. 4, 1997
Contacts:
Barbara Spies Blair
Public Relations
(781) 239-4621
Allyson Brierley,
Assistant Dean, Graduate School
(781) 239-4468
Farshad Rafii,
Professor, Management
(781) 239-4334
Anirudh Dhebar,
Associate Professor, Marketing
(781) 239-5597
Babson MBA Students Showcase Product Innovations at Third Annual Product Design Fair
Wellesley, Mass--Nine teams of three to six students each from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College will showcase their product innovations at the College's Third Annual Product Design Fair Thursday, December 11 from 3-5 p.m. in Olin Hall on the Babson College campus in Wellesley, Mass. Three of last year's designs resulted in a marketable product for the sponsoring company. One of these three designs has also received a patent.
The 1997 Design Fair features nine projects conceived and created by Babson students during the current fall semester in the graduate course, Product Design & Development. This hands-on class is a key element of Babson's integrated MBA curriculum that stresses creativity and innovation, learning in the workplace environment, and a cross-functional perspective.
Most of the student teams partner with a sponsor company to design a new product to serve a specific need or market segment. The collaboration builds student knowledge in market research, industrial design, prototyping, finance, marketing, and process management issues. In return for the sponsoring companies' collaboration, the student teams expand the company's product portfolio. The design fair concludes the course and gives students and sponsors the opportunity to showcase their projects to the community. Since the program's inception in 1995, Babson students have designed 20 concepts for 18 companies.
This year's corporate sponsors are: 1C Computer (Falls Church, VA); Arlin Manufacturing Co., Inc. (Lowell, MA); Easy Day/Surburbanite (Holliston, MA); Oxo International (New York, NY); and Polaroid Corporation (Cambridge, MA).
Three additional entries are student-initiated projects.
The student design teams draw on a variety of resources, including day-long brainstorming and idea workshops, industrial design consultants, model-building workshops, and focus groups. Other partners in the course include: Synectics Corporation, Design Continuum, Brefka Associates, Santin Engineering, and Corporate Design Foundation.
Many of the teams built physical prototypes of their products in the graduate school's 'entrepreneurial incubator space.' "Our students last year made the entrepreneurial incubator space their product design laboratory," said Farshad Rafii, associate professor of management and one of several faculty members associated with the Product Design and Development course. "They took leadership and initiative in gathering equipment, setting it up, and laying out the space. Creativity and innovation naturally followed," he said.
The fair is free and open to the public.
Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., recognized internationally as a leader in entrepreneurial management education, was founded in 1919 by entrepreneur and financier Roger W. Babson. The College grants BS and MBA degrees through its undergraduate program and the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College, and offers executive development programs to experienced managers worldwide through the Babson School of Executive Education. Babson's degree programs are accredited by AACSB - The International Association for Management Education, and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. Note to Editors: Design Fair Photos available upon request.
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