| Prof. Bill Behrman | |
| E-mail: | behrman@stanford.edu |
| Telephone: | 725-1200 |
| Office: | 297 Terman Engineering Center |
| Office Hours: | M - F, email or call ahead |
www.stanford.edu/class/cee45q/
Over two billion people lack electricity in their homes and use fuel-based home lighting. This form of lighting can be unhealthy, environmentally harmful, dangerous, and expensive for families. Students in this seminar will constitute a startup team to develop a solution for this problem. They will seek to exploit the relatively new technology of white LEDs to develop inexpensive, solar-powered home lights, along with an effective business plan to get them to those who would benefit. The seminar will partner with the Light Up the World Foundation (http://www.lutw.org).
Students will learn the Stanford/IDEO methodology of innovation and the art of social entrepreneurship. Through research and interviews and with the guidance of an advisory board drawn from domain experts, user representatives, IDEO staff, and successful entrepreneurs, they will first gain a deep understanding of the problem and then explore opportunities for its solution. With periodic feedback from the advisory board, students will produce a briefing book of their research findings and a short business plan. Their work will serve as the basis for a follow-on seminar that will include graduate students with technical expertise and MBA students, and which will have the goal of bringing a solution to reality. The seminar will develop skills in research, teamwork, Web collaboration, business, project management, writing, and presentation.
Students are selected based upon an application. Preference is given to sophomores, but juniors may apply.
None
See project for details of the team project. The key milestones of the project are listed below and on the course outline.
| Date | Milestone | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 30 | 0 | Feedback from advisors on domain research and proposed design principles |
| Jan 30 | 1 | Team consensus on design principles |
| Feb 18, Feb 20 | 2 | Presentations to advisory board of initial design of product and business plan |
| Mar 13 | 3 | Presentation to advisory board of final design of product and business plan, Team dinner |
Students will work in a series of small teams. In the early stages, the teams will regularly write brief memos summarizing their progress and will post their memos on the Web. In the later stages, the teams will produce a briefing book of their research findings, a product design, and a short business plan. Students will be evaluated on the quality of their research and writing, their contributions in the team meetings, and their presentations.
| Component | % Time | % Grade |
|---|---|---|
| Reading and preparation | 20 | - |
| Seminar participation and presentations | 20 | 40 |
| Research and writing | 60 | 60 |
| --- | --- | |
| 100 | 100 |
Last modified: 2003 Jan 7