The Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) was recently founded in cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Almost half of first year students are already involved in startups. Edward Crawley, President of Skoltech and Professor of Aeronautics and Engineering Systems at MIT told RBTH about the driving force behind the success of the new program.
RBTH: Almost half of your students are involved in startups before they even graduate. Why is the program such a success?
Edward Crawley: We have designed the entire education of Skoltech around the idea that our students want to be innovators. We have built a curriculum and a set of experiences to give students the knowledge to become entrepreneurs. They learn how to be creative, critical, prepare a business plan, design a product, identify a market niche. We have three programs at Skoltech now: energy, IT and space.
The article was published at Russia Behind the Headlines and can be read in its entirety here.