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Johns Hopkins University
901 South Bond Street, Suite 540
Baltimore, Maryland 21231
Phone: 443-287-9960 | Fax: 443-287-9920

May 7, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Phil Sneiderman
443-287-9960
prs@jhu.edu


Courses Encourage Innovation for
Competitive Advantage

New Part-Time Master's Concentration Focuses on
Technical Innovation Management

A recent study by the U.S. Council on Competitiveness concluded that nurturing innovation has become a key strategy for national prosperity. To support that strategy and meet regional workforce needs, the Johns Hopkins Engineering and Applied Science Programs for Professionals (EPP) will offer a new master's level concentration in Technical Innovation Management this fall.

The new concentration will be part of EPP's Technical Management master's degree program, chaired by Kenneth Potocki, a member of the principal professional staff at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.

"No one country owns innovation," Potocki says, "and in competing across national boundaries, strengthening the innovation process in this country is key."

The new master's concentration will address the personal and organizational management of innovation and the development of new technical ventures. "Moving an innovation from opportunity to reality — and competitive advantage — contains an element of management responsibilities," Potocki says. "The courses will help students build workplace environments where innovation can flourish, and those who take the concentration will be able to understand and direct the collaborative creativity of engineers and scientists."

Prime candidates for this concentration are students with about five years of experience in their fields and who are lead engineers/scientists or hold mid- to upper-level management positions. Of 10 one-term courses required for the master's degree in technical management, three comprise the new concentration: Fundamentals of Technical Innovations in Organizations, New Technical Ventures, and Management of Innovation.

"This new concentration will be applicable to a number of disciplines," says Allan Bjerkaas, EPP associate dean. "It is our mission in EPP to not only provide students with the most up-to-date research results and information in their fields, but also to give students the tools to use that information to create and manage new products and technologies."

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Part of the Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering, the Engineering and Applied Science Programs for Professionals offer master's degrees in 14 distinct disciplines. There are currently more than 2,200 students enrolled in EPP programs at seven education centers throughout the Baltimore/Washington area and online. For more information on EPP programs and functions, contact Associate Dean Allan Bjerkaas at 410- 540-2960, visit the Web site at www.epp.jhu.edu,, or e- mail epp@jhu.edu.