The Merge Model for Business Development ― The Amalgamation of Management, Education and Research

This Briefpresents a new model for business development—MERge—to be implemented in practitioners’professional development in general and in the context of STEM (Science,Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) initiatives in particular, in industry,educational institutions and public sector organizations. The authors aim tocontribute to the field of innovation and entrepreneurship by merging andconsolidating different methodologies and insights borrowed from the "meta-professions" (referring toskills that can be expressed meaningfully after one has gained disciplinary andprofessional knowledge) of management, education, and research. Targeting threekey groups—practitioners in industry, academic institutions and public sectororganizations—this model proposes that all practitioners can further developtheir unique expertise, as well as new skills, while acknowledging and applyingthe three meta-professions in their initiatives, on-going work and personallives.

Orit Hazzan?is a Professor at the Technion’s Department of Education inScience and Technology. Her research interest is computer science and softwareengineering education. She has published more than 100 papers in refereedjournals and conference proceedings, and four books – three of them were publishedby Springer. In parallel to her academic research, she was an advisor toIsraeli hi-tech companies on matters related to the implementation of agileproject management. Currently, she works on change management processes inlearning organizations in the context of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineeringand Mathematics).

RonitLis-Hacohen?is a project manager at the Technion of two maininitiatives: a) establishment of the Technion Guangdong campus in China and b)Technion MOOCs strategic development. She is an industrial and managementengineer and IT analyst with twenty years of experience in designing andmanaging information systems projects in various fields, especially ERPprojects. Currently, she is a Masters student at the Open University of Israel.Her research deals with ICT in on-line learning communities.

The two authors have extensiveexperience in the implementation of the MERge model in industry, academia andthe public sector in various managerial, educational, and research roles.