Santokh Badesha, a Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Innovation doesn’t end when an idea works in the lab. At Purdue University, a graduate-level course in the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering is helping students understand how ideas become intellectual property and how that IP creates real-world impact.

ECE 50005, IP Generation and Management: An Inventor’s View, is coordinated by Santokh Badesha, a Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering with decades of industry experience. The course focuses less on legal theory and more on how inventors and organizations generate, evaluate and manage intellectual property.

“This course is about understanding how innovation really happens,” Badesha said. “It’s not just about patents. It’s about ideas, value creation, and navigating the systems that turn technology into impact.”

Designed for graduate students and upper-level undergraduates, the course walks students through the full IP lifecycle, from invention disclosures and patent strategy to commercialization, licensing and enforcement. Offered in an asynchronous format, it is accessible to students balancing research, coursework and industry roles.

“Professor Badesha’s unique perspective as a prolific inventor and industry leader makes this course a practical blueprint for turning ideas into real'world value,” said Dimitri Peroulis, Senior Vice President for Partnerships and Online and Reilly Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “Offered every semester since Fall 2023, it consistently delivers impact. Purdue Online is now transitioning it to a fully online format and into three one'credit MicroCredentials, giving learners flexible, immediately applicable pathways from invention to protection and commercialization.”

The systems-level approach that anchors the course is also the focus of Badesha’s forthcoming book, Innovation Engineering of Technical Systems: Theory, Methods, and Practice (World Scientific, 2026), which draws on the same frameworks and real-world perspectives students encounter in the class.

“Professor Badesha brings rare clarity to how innovation actually works,” said Cristina Farmus, vice president of special projects, leading the Purdue Books Initiative. “His forthcoming book translates complex innovation processes into a framework engineers can actually apply. This is a great example of how course development and book authorship can go hand in hand.”

A defining feature of the course is its strong industry perspective. Guest speakers from companies such as Kodak, Corning, Ericsson, IBM, Dow, and Bell Labs share firsthand insight into how intellectual property decisions are made inside global organizations.

For students, that real-world lens has been eye-opening.

Gurbir Sidhu, a master’s student in electrical and computer engineering and an associate lawyer specializing in intellectual property, said the course deepened his understanding of how IP decisions are shaped beyond technical merit alone.

“Even with my professional background, I gained new perspectives on how business strategy, collaboration and organizational processes drive innovation,” Sidhu said.

Walid Balid, a distinguished R&D engineer at Panduit Corp. and adjunct professor at the University of Oklahoma, said the course connected gaps he regularly sees between academia and industry.

“It bridges theory and practice in a way most engineers never get exposed to,” Balid said. “It’s not just about patents — it’s about understanding how ideas survive and succeed.”

Interactive discussion forums and group projects allow students from diverse professional backgrounds to learn from one another, creating a classroom experience rooted in collaboration.

“The discussions are a highlight of the course,” Badesha said. “Students bring real experiences to the table, and that makes the learning richer for everyone.”

Students may also pursue an optional certification exam developed in collaboration with the National Academy of Inventors, giving them an additional credential valued by employers.

Milind Kulkarni, Michael and Katherine Birck Head of Purdue ECE, said the course reflects the school’s commitment to preparing engineers for leadership roles beyond technical problem-solving.

“Our students are trained to invent,” Kulkarni said. “This course helps them understand how inventions create value in industry, startups and research partnerships.”

Tom Brush, Head of Purdue’s Strategic Management Department says the course is a great companion to the Management of Entrepreneurial Ventures course in the Mitch Daniels School of Business, which teaches skills required to become an entrepreneur, succeed in a start-up venture, work in venture capital, join a family business, or develop a franchise operation.

“While not all new business plans that emerge from our course involve IP, many do, and ECE’s course provides an essential input into thinking about how to develop and protect IP for the new start-up business,” said Brush.

Jim Bullard, Dr. Samuel R. Allen Dean of the Mitch Daniels School of Business, agrees.

“Taking a course on IP from the inventor’s perspective, showing all the steps needed to protect IP, and the process of what to do at different stages of a new business from idea to application, is a great opportunity for Purdue students,”  said Bullard.

As innovation becomes more interdisciplinary and market-driven, Badesha sees IP literacy as an essential skill for engineers and scientists at every career stage.

“This knowledge stays with students long after the course ends,” he said. “It changes how they think about innovation itself.”