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Entrepreneurship & Innovation Minor

The Rady School of Management’s Entrepreneurship & Innovation Minor is designed to provide students with a strong understanding of business and entrepreneurship theory, practices, and applications. The E&I Minor will appeal to creative and ambitious undergraduate students who envision launching and managing their own business or entering careers in innovation-driven fields. In this program, students will:

  1. Cover a broad context of the application of entrepreneurship and business principles.
  2. Develop a comprehensive view of innovation within and operations of both established businesses and start-up business operations.
  3. Be application-oriented and provide experiential learning opportunities.
  4. Provide coursework in a unique area not available elsewhere on campus.
  5. Through course work and faculty guidance, help innovative students cultivate and expand on their business ideas.

The curriculum includes a two-course practicum requirement, Innovation to Market (MGT 121A and 121B), that will give students the opportunity to apply their knowledge of entrepreneurial theories and innovative thinking strategies in a classroom setting. 

The Entrepreneurship and Innovation minor cannot be declared with the Business Minor due to curricular overlap. 

You may declare a minor through Tritonlink by using the Major/ Minor Tool. For more information on how to declare, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions page.

Minor Requirements

The Entrepreneurship & Innovation minor consists of seven courses (28 units). Students will be required to complete two practicum courses (8 units), three core courses (12 units), and 8 units of elective courses. In order to complete the E&I Minor, students must comply to the following:

  • Take all E&I minor classes for a letter grade (the math prerequisite may be taken for P/NP for minor purposes).
  • Earn at least a C- in each course used for the minor.
  • Only two lower-division courses (8 units) may be taken for the Entrepreneurship & Innovation minor.
  • At least five classes for the minor must be taken at UC San Diego.
  • Finish the minor with an overall minor GPA of 2.0
  • You can use two upper-division courses (a maximum of 8 units) to fulfill the requirements for a minor that have also been used to satisfy the requirements of a major. There is no limit for lower-division courses.
  • You can't use an upper-division course to satisfy the requirements of more than one minor.
  • Read the Academic Senate policy on minors (section E).

Find the list of tentative Rady classes for the academic year on the undergraduate webpage.

To plan your Entrepreneurship & Innovation Minor courses, please visit our Resources page to access the Rady Program Requirements Sheet.

Core Requirements (12 units)

  • MGT 103: Product Marketing and Management
  • MGT 187: New Venture Finance
  • MGT 16: Personal Ethics at Work or MGT 166: Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility

Practicum Requirement (8 units)

  • MGT 121A: Innovation to Market A
  • MGT 121B: Innovation to Market B
    • Pre-requisites: MGT 187 & MGT 121A

Elective Courses (8 units)

Select from the following courses:

  • MGT 102 E-Commerce*
  • MGT 105 Product Promotion and Brand Management
  • MGT 106 Sales and Sales Management
  • MGT 107 Consumer Behavior*
  • MGT 108/R Applied Market Research*
  • MGT 109 Topics in Marketing* (Pre-approved Topics Only)
  • MGT 117 Business Law*
  • MGT 119 Topics in Business (Pre-approved Topics Only)
  • MGT 127 Innovation and Technology Strategy*
  • MGT 128/R Business Innovation and Growth
  • MGT 129 Topics in Entrepreneurship (2 Unit)
  • MGT 162/R Negotiation*
  • MGT 164 Business and Organizational Leadership
  • MGT 167 Social Entrepreneurship
  • MGT 175 Supply Chain Management*
  • COGS 122 Start-up Studio
  • ENG 100B Engineering Leadership* (2 Unit)
  • ENG 100D Design for Development (Open to All Majors)
  • ENG 100L Design for Development Lab (2 Unit, Open to All Majors)
  • ENG 202 Enterprise Dynamics (undergraduates may enroll in this course with department and instructor approval)
  • ENG 207 Corporate Entrepreneurship for Global Competitiveness (undergraduates may enroll in this course with department and instructor approval)
  • MAE 154 Product Design and Entrepreneurship
  • CSE 190 Successful Entrepreneurship for Microsystems
  • BISP 194 Intro to Biotech Business* (2 Unit, only Biotech Business topic counts for E&I credit)
  • SOCI 148E Inequality and Jobs
  • TDGE 3 Cultivating the Creative Mind*

*Please contact Rady Advising to have this course added to your degree audit

Partner Programs

The Sullivan Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Rady School of Management was founded to support and catalyze the University of California’s innovation leadership and entrepreneurship initiatives.

Under the direction of Tim Schwartz, the CIID program has grown to include the StartR accelerator programsTriton Innovation Challenge, and Rady Venture Fund. All of these programs, combined with the many other unique learning opportunities of the Rady School, provide students with the opportunity to explore the many sides of innovation and entrepreneurship.

Triton Innovation Challenge

The Triton Innovation Challenge is a business competition focused on fostering creativity and bringing to the spotlight commercially promising, environmentally focused technologies generated by the finest minds at UC San Diego. Supported through the generosity of The William and Kathryn Scripps Family Foundation Inc., the program is presented through a partnership of the Rady School of Management, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and the Jacobs School of Engineering. The competition awards cash prizes totaling $20,000 to support new and innovative ideas that relate to the environment (comes from, inspired by, or directly impacts nature.) 

The Basement

The Basement’s student-centric mission is to stimulate, encourage and serve the entrepreneurial spirit of UC San Diego students by providing a co-work and incubation space. As a shared campus-wide enterprise managed by Alumni and Community Engagement, The Basement is part of a collective comprised of campus partners, alumni leaders, Alumni and Community Engagement and Career and Professional Development staff. 

Learn more about The Basement Incubator Program at ucsdbasement.com or contact: thebasement@ucsd.edu.

Resources for Undergraduate Entrepreneurs