At the VCU da Vinci Center for Innovation, the Master of Product Innovation program is interested in helping out its “unicorns.”
The da Vinci Center recently announced that it’s awarding $5,000 scholarships to defray the cost of the 13-month program, a cross-disciplinary course of study for students interested in product innovation.
Funded by the center’s philanthropic partners, executive director Garret Westlake said the scholarships were created to acknowledge the challenges many people have faced over the past year as Covid-19 created challenges touching nearly every aspect of life. The center does not have a limit on how many scholarships it will provide.
Why unicorns?
It’s a nod to the nickname the program’s graduates were given in recent years, Westlake said.
“Multiple students were applying for positions, or were offered positions, and were told by their employer, ‘You’re a unicorn,’” he said.
Launched in 2012 and redesigned in 2016, Westlake said the program was described to him by a graduate as an MBA for the 21st century.
What that means, he said, is, “it’s not just enough in today’s world to know business; it’s not just enough to know engineering.”
Rather, what VCU has heard from its industry partners is the talent they are seeking “requires people who have this cross-disciplinary perspective.”
It can be difficult for some companies to find this talent, and VCU consistently provides it.
The program is capped at 20 students for each cohort. The tagline is, “We don’t take tests, we take risks,” Westlake said.
When it comes to prospective students, the da Vinci Center is looking for students who are really curious and interested in learning new things, he said.
Graduates have gone on to careers that include head of product for HBO Max, leading strategy for Mobelux, product manager for Capital One, innovation roles for Xerox and accepting spots in startup accelerator programs.
The deadline to apply to the fall graduate program is June 15. The scholarship deadline is on a rolling basis. Interested individuals can nominate themselves or someone they know here.
