TECH Off and Running, But Still Defining Itself

The inaugural year of The Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard (TECH) was not all that different from that of a start-up company, says Paul Bottino.

TECH’s executive director says the organization hit the ground running, offering a lecture series, symposiums, student projects and several other opportunities.

But he acknowledges that while TECH has been operating under its mission to “educate technology leaders and innovators,” and to be a “space for students, faculty, alumni and industry leaders to learn together, collaborate and innovate,” it has yet to lay out a clear structure for the organization.

“It’s entrepreneurial in and of itself,” Bottino says of TECH’s inaugural year. “You get a lot of opportunities and need to decide who you’re going to be and what you’re going to be about-you have to marry activities with ideas.”

And soon, Bottino and others involved in TECH will have to figure out what form of leadership students will have within the organization-and what longer-term goals the center will take on.

Whether formalized leadership and organizational structures would be a help or a hindrance in a center designed to educate innovators is still being debated.

“Some people respond very well to seizing an opportunity and creating the structure to make it work,” he says. “Other people are looking for more of a hierarchy.”

No official proposals for student or organizational structures yet exist.

And They’re Off

Those involved with the organization say TECH has enjoyed an impressive debut.

“I am very encouraged by the educational value, energy and sense of community the students, alumni, faculty and staff have generated by working together to make TECH a reality,” Venkatesh “Venky” Narayanmurti, dean of the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, wrote in an e-mail.

Bottino says about 275 students have participated in TECH this year.

The idea for TECH was developed by David Alpert ’99-’00. During the 1999-2000 academic year, he pitched the concept to members of the administration, including Narayanmurti, who took to the idea and became one of its greatest champions.

And thus the road to TECH was created. The organization was officially founded in May, and began operations in September of this academic year.

All those involved with the group agree that as the organization grows, it will have to develop a clearer structure.

Maryanthe E. Malliaris ’01 talks of creating a TECH that is similar to the IOP.

“TECH can be a place where people come to experience TECH as a tool that they can take back to where their passions can be applied,” says Malliaris, who is also a Crimson editor.

Some questions have arisen as to what form the group’s student leadership should take.

Alex F. Rubalcava ’02, who is also a Crimson editor, said he felt a defined hierarchy might make it easier to ensure that programs initiated by juniors and seniors don’t get lost when those students graduate.

Bottino said he saw the merits of a more defined hierarchy of student leadership, but said that at the same time, he understands that some people are more effective when they can create and operate under their own structure.

“It’s an internal challenge,” he says, which must be addressed by TECH in the years to come.

The main goal of the organization for the upcoming year will be publicity.

“There are still people that don’t know we exist,” Bottino says. “Or people have sort of heard of TECH but don’t know what we do.”

Flourishing In Its First Year

To achieve its goal of providing students with the information and ideas they will need for their entrepreneurial endeavors, this year TECH initiated a lecture series and a faculty dinner series. Through a program called TECH Access, TECH sponsored a series of symposiums and conferences.

TECH also arranged for the transportation and lodging necessary for students to attend conferences as far away as California.

TECH’s second goal is collaboration between students, faculty, alumni and industry leaders to work on projects that weave technology and entrepreneurship together.

To that end, TECH hosted a networking event earlier this year to give students an opportunity to meet and set up contacts with industry leaders sharing their interests.

And a venture called the Harvard Technology Management Program (TMP) was initiated under the leadership of Thomas J. Castillo ’02, a student member of the group who is also a Crimson editor.

This program aims to provide students with a chance to apply their technical skills by working on projects for local high-tech companies. This year, the program sponsored one project, in which three students participated. These students worked for a company called Student Universe, in which they developed software for an automated travel-agency program.

But Castillo is slated to graduate in a year, and under TECH’s current structure, there is no guarantee that his program will survive, let alone grow.

Castillo, like other students who work on TECH projects, hold no formal positions within the center, meaning that TECH’s foci could change dramatically from year to year as student body composition changes.

Forward-Thinking

Bottino cited alumni-faculty collaboration as one of TECH’s strongest accomplishments this year.

“I think the best thing I saw was the energy level of the students and the willingness of alumni to give of their time and energy,” he said.

But TECH leaders hope this will all eventually look like small potatoes.

Castillo says he hopes to expand the TMP program to at least three projects next year. He’ll be spending the summer at Harvard working on finding new company partners for the program.

And a project that is underway for the next academic year is the construction of a website that will facilitate connections between students and alumni and industry contacts.

“TECH has an important future at Harvard and I am excited to see it build on its successful first year,” Narayanmurti said.

—Staff writer Kate L. Rakoczy can be reached at rakoczy@fas.harvard.edu.