The Business of Tough Tech – Careers at the Next Frontier

ENCE 130 Subject & Catalog Number

Description

The class equips students with the rigorous frameworks and practical mindset required to understand, build, finance, and scale companies rooted in scientific and engineering breakthroughs. Often referred to as "deep tech" or "tough tech," these ventures — spanning climate and energy technology (including nuclear energy), robotics and advanced manufacturing, advanced materials, space technology, transportation and autonomy, and quantum computing — represent the frontier of innovation and carry enormous potential to address the world's most pressing challenges.

Tough tech ventures operate under a set of fundamental constraints: long research and development timelines, capital-intensive development cycles, personnel with rare skillsets, and complex regulatory landscapes. Through a combination of rigorous analytical frameworks — including technoeconomic analysis (TEA) — Harvard Business School case studies, guest sessions with industry practitioners, and a capstone project, students will learn opportunity recognition, intellectual property strategy, technoeconomic modeling, venture financing, scaling operations, and exit pathways.