Shaping the disruptors:

Purdue is a powerhouse in technology, not just historically in the business school, but also in our schools of computer science and engineering. Naturally, these strengths lend themselves to establishing Purdue as the place to train the next generation of leaders in the new digital economy. We are very conscious of our mission, that we have the necessary elements to leverage the changes in the market and to educate students to think about the future of business and how they manage technology. Three decades ago, the focus of business education was on managing resources and a team of people. But technology has been an enabler in an operational sense, and it’s now a key element in delivering consumer experience. Our students will be able to anticipate value creation and capture to improve consumer experiences. Rather than force-feeding a tech component into our programs, we’re truly thinking about how technology augments tasks so people can run businesses optimally.

The Master of Business and Technology at Purdue Daniels is not a retro-fitted MBA program. It goes beyond the traditional boundaries of business education, providing a holistic understanding of the business-technology nexus. Decision-makers need to be adept at evaluating technological investments, understanding the implications of new technology trends and predicting potential challenges and opportunities they might bring. That is why technology is the through line of the MBT curriculum. In partnership with the #4 ranked College of Engineering at Purdue, the MBT delivers deep knowledge in digital product design, computational business intelligence, governance and regulations, technology strategies, DevOps and tech solutions, economic analysis of tech markets and emerging technologies and their business models. The focus of the MBT is not competency across the general management domain refurbished for engineers and technologists—rather it builds on the student’s backgrounds, elevating their thought process from just implementing technologic solutions to a broader understanding of the ethical implications of advanced technology on business models.

AI Innovations is one of the four MBT concentrations. Students who choose this path will explore the humanity behind AI for business decision-making. It’s important to first look back and see how AI has evolved to date and what were the critical points of human interaction. The AI output is currently only as good as the data model inputs it’s provided. Understanding current challenges and common flaws at the point of human manipulation will provide a strong foundation for MBT graduates when conceptualizing and implementing AI solutions for their business needs.

Our four concentrations allow students to take a third of their 36 credit hours—about 10 hours of electives—to focus specifically on their interests. Depending on the level of their background, they can push themselves to deepen their understanding, adding contextual knowledge to the basic principles of business. For instance, with fintech, they would be interested in technology while possessing a solid foundation in finance. We’ll need experts in automation. Take the auto industry, for instance. In the past, manufacturers were worried about mileage. Now they are competing to develop self-driving cars. A car is not just a car anymore; it’s about experience and digital products. It’s personalized. We’re giving students the skills to foresee the competitive advantage where technology is shifting, what enables it and how to make money out of that. We can’t just say, ‘here’s everything you need to know about AI.’ New technologies, yet unnamed, will exist in 20 years, and our graduates will have the analytical skills and business acumen to adapt to each one.

Based on our research, there are over 30,000 employees looking to fill 420,000+ jobs in the biztech space. 100% of those open positions require a graduate degree. There is an increasing need for individuals who are forward thinkers, utilizing emerging technologies to drive business models and to fend off outside disruption. Graduates will know how to leverage emerging technologies and conceptualize yet-to-exist innovations while evaluating the ethical, social and economic implications.

We have a highly engaged corporate advisory council made up of senior executives and technologists from the biotechnology research, business consulting services, digital healthcare, food and beverage services, machinery manufacturing, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and software development industries. The council guides MBT faculty in the development of relevant, future-focused courses to continually increase the marketability of graduates and develop corporate relationships to create a pipeline of relevant internships, jobs, and consulting projects for students and graduates. A core value of the MBT program is connection. Through a landscape speaker series and mentorship program, students will be in regular contact with industry thought-leaders to grow their networks. The landscape speaker series brings renown business leaders into the classroom to speak directly to students about their career path, current challenges in the market, what they are looking for in new hires and how they are leveraging individuals with the knowledge and skill set of MBT graduates.  The mentorship program kicks off during the first module of the program, matching students with a seasoned leader in the industry and/or role in which they aspire to be.

Transformational experiences are held in high regard at Purdue’s Daniels School of Business. The MBT program incorporates a capstone course as part of the core curriculum. Students will intern with an industry partner to solve a business challenge or commercialize a product using the skills obtained throughout the MBT program. Experiential learning opportunities that move beyond the theoretical and into the real-world provide students with some of life’s most important lessons and make them marketable upon graduation.