The colleges in Virginia haven't locked on to The Egg
Factory's idea yet, but they should.
BLUE RIDGE BUSINESS JOURNAL
July 14, 2003
Dan Smith
Roanoke's innovation champs are running through another
group of interns this summer, kids who'll learn how
to put into perspective, and into action, what they've
absorbed in three years of college. The Egg Factory's
program is probably not unique, but it is certainly
useful and - in keeping with the company's mission
- innovative in a number of ways.
The Egg Factory is working with 16 interns (from 1,400
interviewed), who are in college all over the world.
They're housed and fed at Roanoke College and they
come from four disciplines: engineering, business,
industrial design and liberal arts. Their task is to
envision, design and write a business plan for an innovation
that will be worth a billion dollars within five years;
that they can patent; that has a distinct competitive
advantage in its field; that can be developed within
three years; and that will be a benefit to society.
Those criteria are the basis of what The Egg Factory
does for a living and these students are given a very
real shot at success (and if they succeed, they get
a percentage of the profits).
The cross-discipline approach is meant to give the
students a strong advantage and the engineering, business
and industrial design disciplines have obvious advantages.
Adam Hofheimer, who heads The Egg Factory's intern
program, himself a liberal arts graduate, sees the
value in that degree that many don't necessarily recognize.
Liberal arts graduates, he says, ask questions the
scientists and business people wouldn't necessarily
pose. They think differently. They can write the business
plan and the proposals. They ask "stupid" questions,
the kinds of questions that consumers might ask.
And their value is apparent to the science and business
students, five of whom I sat with for a conversation
recently and all of whom valued the liberal arts member
of his team (four teams, one person from each discipline
on each team).
Students are given considerable instruction from The
Egg Factory staff members (each of whom enthusiastically
takes "on a full-time job with them," Hofheimer
says), and they're given pointers from outside speakers.
These experts might be a NASA Space Shuttle executive
talking about risk management, for example.
The students talk about the sudden growth of their
individual career horizon as a result of the program.
Hofheimer says results are occasionally dramatic: for
example, an engineering student returned to school
and changed his major. He wanted to become a patent
attorney after the intense instruction of this internship.
Business student Shweta Agarwal of Virginia Beach
says she sees things differently than she did when
the program started. When she's in a grocery store,
for example, she looks at products on the shelves and
imagines how they got there, what went into creating,
marketing and distributing them. "In my business
classes," she says, "it's not real. I have
nothing to look to but grades."
Mati Chessin, an engineering student from Chapel Hill,
says, "We won't see infomercials the same ever
again." It's an exercise in Mystery Science Theater
for the sophisticated business type.
And the ideas are everywhere. "It's easy to break
it down," says Johathan Grey of Charlotte. "You
think about the American market- place and find things
everyone owns." Then you improve them or invent
an alternative.
There is a good bit of pressure to perform and there
is a competitive nature to the four teams, but Chessin
says, "I think I'll retain everything I've learned
here because this isn't a job; it's entertaining. It's
in such a tangible form."
Liberal arts major Yaov Lurie of Beverly Hills, Calif.,
says that when he told one of his professors that he'd
applied for the program, "he said to me, 'I need
to do that,' because he could see how what we learn
would apply directly."
And, yes, it does. But before you go jumping into
this type of program, take note: it is time and staff
intensive and it requires a considerable commitment
from the business. The Egg Factory gets a few good
ideas and a lot of energizing, says Hofheimer, but
internships on this order are expensive in a number
of ways. But like so many things that cost a lot, I'd
bet The Egg Factory gets as good as it gives.
