This course is meant for students in engineering and other disciplines who seek a challenging, interactive, team-based, and hands-on learning experience in entrepreneurship and technology. In this highly experiential course, students work in simulated start-up teams to create products or start-up ideas to address a broadly-defined need of an industry partner or social challenge.

AI and automation have significantly changed the way business is done. What will work look like in two years, or in five years, and how can employees and employers be ready? #OpportunityTech looks beyond jobtech to innovate solutions that promote equitable access, participation, persistence, and advancement in the future of work. We are in the Fourth Industrial Revolution and have the opportunity to harness converging technologies to create an inclusive human-centered future. This course asks students to envision solutions that leverage tech to intentionally promote equitable economic mobility, and to ensure we don’t unintentionally create an underclass of people who are no longer employable because of bias in the systems or their skills being rendered obsolete. Students in the OpportunityTech and Future of Work Challenge Lab will be immersed in an entrepreneurial journey to discover and develop disruptive business models for the future of work, workplace and workforce. From job discovery and hiring, to supporting retention and employee wellness, to future proofing skills and upskilling, we need solutions that improve work and meet the growing demand for talent. For example, sectors like cybersecurity and climate change are expected to grow, and new job types such as algorithm bias auditor, and data detective are anticipated to be the new jobs of the future. Specifically, students will develop an understanding of the value and velocity of AI and disruptive technologies in shaping the nature of employment; understand the frameworks of ‘specialized’ vs ‘generalized’ intelligence; and explore innovation with entrepreneurs and other expert guest speakers. Students will explore future work challenges and invent startup solutions that leverage tech (data, ML, AI); prototype solutions; and explore customer ‘value’ models; all while gaining equal fluency in the cultural values and ethical principles that should ground and govern how these tools are designed and used. More Information: https://scet.berkeley.edu/students/courses/challenge-labs/future-of-work/ This course is also part of the Berkeley Changemaker suite of courses, which is designed to activate passions and sharpen your sense of where you want to go and how to make that happen, with particular focus on critical thinking, communication, and collaboration. See https://scet.berkeley.edu/newton-series/ and http://changemaker.berkeley.edu for more information.

This course counts towards the SCET Certificate in Technology and Entrepreneurship. Additional information: https://scet.berkeley.edu/certificate-in-entrepreneurship-and-technology/. Questions about SCET course enrollment or certificate can be directed to lee.2293@berkeley.edu.

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