Entrepreneurship Minor
The Entrepreneurship (ENTR) curriculum at HKUST supports a mindset–fundamentals–skillset progression for students who want to discover opportunities, build ventures, and engage with entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Entrepreneurship Minor Structure
The Minor in Entrepreneurship is open to undergraduates meeting the CGA and minor requirements.
Students complete at least 18 credits within a three-layer scaffold: one required mindset course, a set of fundamental electives, and skill-set electives that build practical entrepreneurial capabilities.
How the Entrepreneurship Minor Fits Together
Every Entrepreneurship Minor student shares the same starting point (ENTR 1001), then chooses fundamentals and skill-set courses to create a pathway that fits their interests.
Students complete at least 18 credits within a three-layer scaffold: one required mindset course, a set of fundamental electives, and skill-set electives that build practical entrepreneurial capabilities.
Mindset
Fundamentals
Technology and Innovation: Social and Business Perspectives
New Venture Creation
Entrepreneurship Mentorship and Readings
Social Innovations and Entrepreneurship
Industrial & Deep Tech Landscape
Student‑led Entrepreneurship Acceleration Project
Combine 2–4 fundamentals to reach the required credits. You can mix mentoring, social impact, industry, and project‑based courses.
Skill-Set
Growth & Innovation for Tech Startups
Prototyping Skills for Entrepreneurs
Global Product & Tech Startups
BIBU / COMP / FINA / ISOM / LIFS / MARK / MGMT / OCES / SCIE
Skill‑set courses help you deepen in areas like product, growth, finance, IP, biotech, IT, and sustainability.
Required Mindset Course
| Code | Title | Credits | Role in Minor |
| CodeENTR 1001 REQUIRED | TitleEntrepreneurship 1001: Designing Your Future | Credits3 | Role in MinorSignature foundation course for all Entrepreneurship Minor students; focuses on entrepreneurial mindset, self-discovery, basic opportunity recognition, and project-based experiential learning with entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds. |
Fundamental Electives
Fundamental electives provide core exposure to innovation, social and industrial perspectives, mentoring, and early acceleration.
| Code | Title | Credits | Role |
| CodeISOM 1380 FUNDAMENTAL | TitleTechnology and Innovation: Social and Business Perspectives | Credits3 | RoleIntroduces how technology and innovation interact with society and business, forming a broad conceptual base for entrepreneurial thinking. |
| CodeMGMT 2011 FUNDAMENTAL | TitleNew Venture Creation | Credits3 | RoleGuides students step-by-step through the new venture creation process, from opportunity evaluation to basic venture planning. |
| CodeENTR 2010 FUNDAMENTAL | TitleEntrepreneurship Mentorship and Readings | Credits1 | RoleMentorship-based course where students explore entrepreneurship through readings, self-directed activities, and consolidation with a faculty mentor. |
| CodeENTR 3030 FUNDAMENTAL | TitleSocial Innovations and Entrepreneurship | Credits3 | RoleIntroduces social enterprises, social innovation models, and corporate social responsibility, emphasizing delivery of social impact through effective operations. |
| CodeENTR 3100 FUNDAMENTAL | TitleIndustrial Landscape: Understanding the Elements to Start a Business | Credits3 | RoleSurveys industry structures and ecosystems across sectors; students analyze companies and identify opportunities and competitive dynamics. |
| CodeENTR 4901–4904 FUNDAMENTAL | TitleStudent-led Entrepreneurship Acceleration Project | Credits1-4 | RoleTeam-based acceleration projects developing an idea from early stage towards market viability through ideation, prototyping, user feedback, and venture planning, with up to a defined credit cap counting toward fundamental electives. |
Example Pathway A: Build Your Own Tech Startup
For students who want to take an idea, prototype it, grow it, and potentially accelerate it while at HKUST.
Design your future, explore problems, and decide whether you want to pursue a startup.
Learn the full new venture process, from opportunity evaluation to basic business plan.
Map industries and deep‑tech landscapes; choose where your idea fits.
Turn your idea into tangible prototypes (software, hardware, service mock‑ups).
Design experiments, growth loops, and pitches to attract users and investors.
Shape your project into a real technology startup with supply chains, IP, and business model.
Use a project course to accelerate your startup idea, test in the market, and prepare for funding or incubation.
Along this route, you can add finance and law electives (e.g., FINA 2203/2303, ISOM 2030/4020) or sector electives (e.g., COMP 4911 / ENTR 4911, BIBU 4820, LIFS 4820) to tailor your startup to IT, biotech, or other domains.
Example Pathway B: Social Impact & Ecosystem Explorer
For students who want to understand social challenges, industry ecosystems, and deep‑tech contexts before deciding whether to start something or join existing ventures.
Explore your interests and values, and learn how innovation can shape future careers.
Understand social enterprises, CSR, and how innovation can create social impact.
Learn how companies, technologies, and regulations interact in sectors such as AI, climate-tech, or biotech.
- BIBU 4820 / LIFS 4820 – Biotech & life sciences
- OCES 4301 – Environment & green ventures
- SCIE 4860 – Applied science projects
- ISOM 4020 – Innovation management
- Lead or join a project in ENTR 4901–4904.
- Pick skill-set courses like ENTR 3013 or 3012.
- Join NGOs, social enterprises, or start your own impact venture.
Skill-set Electives
Skill-set electives equip students with practical tools in growth, prototyping, product development, sector-specific entrepreneurship, finance, IP, innovation management, marketing, negotiation, and applied projects.
| Code | Title | Credits | Notes |
| CodeENTR 3012 SKILL-SET | TitleTech Startup and Entrepreneurs Ecosystem: Growth and Innovation | Credits3 | NotesNew ENTR course focused on hands-on growth strategies for technology startups and innovative digital services, combining frameworks such as SAVE and Blue Ocean with investor pitching and digital analytics–based experimentation. |
| CodeENTR 3013 SKILL-SET | TitlePrototyping Skills for Entrepreneurs | Credits3 | NotesNew ENTR course providing practical skills to build software, hardware, and mechanical prototypes, integrate components, use rapid prototyping tools, and apply design for manufacturing principles. |
| CodeENTR 3350 / ISDN 3350 SKILL-SET | TitleGlobal Product Development | Credits3 | NotesJoint project-based course where global, interdisciplinary teams identify user-centered problems and develop engineering design solutions and prototypes across multiple campuses. |
| CodeENTR 3360 / ISDN 3360 SKILL-SET | TitleFrom Product Innovations to Successful Technology Startups | Credits3 | NotesGuides students from initial product concepts and prototypes toward technology startup formation, covering market research, supply chains, IP, funding, and business models. |
| CodeBIBU 4820 | TitleBiotechnology Entrepreneurship and Business Operations | Credits3 | NotesSector-focused course on biotech venture operations and commercialization. |
| CodeCOMP 4911 / ENTR 4911 | TitleIT Entrepreneurship | Credits3 | NotesCovers elements of starting and operating information technology ventures, including business planning, financing, legal aspects, and case studies. |
| CodeFINA 2203 / 2303 | TitleFundamentals of Business Finance / Financial Management | Credits3 | NotesProvides finance foundations relevant for evaluating and managing startup financial decisions. |
| CodeIEDA 2150 / 2200 | TitleProduct Design / Engineering Management | Credits3 | NotesDevelops design and management skills that support technology and product-oriented ventures. |
| CodeISOM 2030 | TitleBusiness Protections for Innovations | Credits3 | NotesIntroduces IP and related protections for innovations in business and technology contexts. |
| CodeISOM 4020 | TitleInnovation Management and Technology Entrepreneurship | Credits3 | NotesAddresses innovation processes, technology entrepreneurship, and corporate innovation practices. |
| CodeLIFS 4820 | TitleEntrepreneurship in Biotechnology | Credits3 | NotesCovers science-based innovation and venture topics in life sciences. |
| CodeMARK 2120 | TitleMarketing Management | Credits3 | NotesProvides core marketing concepts and tools that underpin startup customer and market strategies. |
| CodeMGMT 3140 / 4220 | TitleNegotiation / Entrepreneurship and Innovation | Credits4 | NotesDevelops negotiation skills and advanced perspectives on entrepreneurship and innovation for would-be founders and leaders. |
| CodeOCES 4301 | TitleEnvironmental Conservation | Credits3 | NotesProvides context for environmental and green ventures with conservation and sustainability themes. |
| CodeSCIE 4860 | TitleYoung Entrepreneurial Syndicate in Applied Sciences Project | Credits3 | NotesApplied science project course with entrepreneurial elements and team-based project work. |
| CodeIEDA 4170 | TitleProduct Design and Lifecycle Management | Credits3 | NotesRemoved from the Entrepreneurship Minor elective list because it has not been offered in recent years and has been deleted from the catalog. |
| CodeISOM 4820 | TitleRevenue Management | Credits3 | NotesRemoved from the Entrepreneurship Minor elective list because it has not been offered in recent years and has been deleted from the catalog. |