About EPD
Entrepreneurial Product Development is led by Ted Burdett; Assistant Clinical Professor of Design Entrepreneurship at UIC, Co-Owner of Strand Design.
EPD is an immersive experience in design entrepreneurship. Over the course of the year-long class EPD students design & develop products, source manufacturers, launch & manage crowdfunding campaigns, and use business planning tools to design proposals for sustainable businesses. Students gain a broad understanding of the discipline through interviews and visits with people from diverse backgrounds who have initiated & grown businesses, and through readings & podcasts that explore successes & failures in businesses.
Chicago is a hotbed of entrepreneurial & design activity and EPD is right in the middle of it. Students engages with Chicago's startup and independent design communities by way of studio visits, public exhibits, and event attendance.
EPD is one of several professional practice courses available to senior design undergraduates at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The course was first led by Bruce Tharp. EPD has been led by Craighton Berman for the past three years. Past projects and class activity can be seen here at Craighton's blog, Always Be Hustling.
Ted Burdett holds an MBA with a concentration in Entrepreneurship from the Liautaud Graduate School of Business and an undergraduate degree in Industrial Design from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Ted has run two successful Kickstarter campaigns raising funds for Strand Design's newest brand, Fourneau.