BMETALS is the new STEM

One hundred years ago on April 6, the United States declared war on Germany and entered World War I. It was an event that changed America, and the world, forever.

Now, we are fighting a different kind of war...the war for talent.

Everyone is hyping the need for more STEM education to fill the 21st Century jobs gap. Most are blowing smoke. For those in medicine, to win the 4th Industrial Revolution, it will take more than science, engineering,technology and math. Instead, it will take BMETALS: business, medicine, engineering, technology, artistic creativity , law and the soft skills.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is graduating from electric vehicles and spacecraft and leaning into education. Based on tax filings for his charitable organization, The Foundation, Musk plans to start with a STEM-focused primary and secondary school in Austin before establishing a "university dedicated to education at the highest levels," reports Bloomberg. The latter will incorporate a standard curriculum with "hands-on ... simulations, case studies, fabrication/design projects and labs." This isn't the first time Musk has dabbled in education: He set up a school called Ad Astra for kids of SpaceX employees, including his own.

Business: However it is funded, sick care requires a sustainable value proposition and VAST business model to be sustainable.

Medicine: Practicing state of the art medicine will get harder and harder as the amount of information grows exponentially.

Engineering: Design thinking that helps and informs high touch

Technology: Next generation health information systems that offer a whole product solution

Artistic creativity: Innovation, creativity and imagination start with an entrepreneurial mindset.

The rapid development of artificial intelligence means it’s more important for kids to be able to think critically and have good judgment than to know how to code, Centerview Partners co-founder Blair Effron told Bloomberg. Effron, one of New York’s leading investment bankers, said AI will replace the skills needed for STEM subjects: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Christopher Pissarides, an economist and Nobel prize winner, recently advised young people to pursue “empathetic” and creative skills in an AI-dominated world.

Law: In such a highly regulated industry like sick care, rules, regulations, and laws drive ecosystems. It is only when the rules change that new models can emerge that drive business models that sustain innovation.

Soft skills:In 2013, Google decided to test its hiring hypothesis by crunching every bit and byte of hiring, firing, and promotion data accumulated since the company’s incorporation in 1998. Project Oxygen shocked everyone by concluding that, among the eight most important qualities of Google’s top employees, STEM expertise comes dead last. The seven top characteristics of success at Google are all soft skills: being a good coach; communicating and listening well; possessing insights into others (including others different values and points of view); having empathy toward and being supportive of one’s colleagues; being a good critical thinker and problem solver; and being able to make connections across complex ideas.

BMETALS interdisciplinary programs offering fluent coherence in these different domains will be the bedrock of future entrepreneurial universities and programs that will create a cadre of future leaderpreneurs who will lead us to victory in the 4th industrial revolution.

Here's an example of how we teach BMETALS entrepreneurship to graduate students and faculty at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

We need to rethink STEM and design thinking in sickcare. Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia is a good example.

1. For the most part, STEM has devolved into tech training, not education
2. The emphasis on math proficiency may be misguided, unless you intend to pursue an advanced or graduate degree. How much math or organic chemistry does a doctor really need to know? In fact, the more they do the math for dosing in their head, the more dangerous the outcomes
3. 3. K-12 "STEM academies" are the new arms race to get more students and state funding. Their are no accreditation standards for STEM.
4. It scares students away. Remember asking "Will their be math on the test?"
5. The people who teach it are not qualified in the subject matter
6. STEM needs to be STEAMpathIE
7. STEM major outcomes depend on the subject and the job market depends on where you land. Just ask a PhD in molecular biology doing her 4th postdoc who is looking for a job in academic biomedical research about the job market at academic medical centers
8. The business model is broken, and it takes too long and costs too much
9. Industries vary in what they say they need. Most of the "STEM jobs" are mid-level like computer aided manufacturing or robotic control systems that can be learned OJT
10. Students should "earn while they learn" as soon as possible, taking advantage of internships and apprenticeships.

Also, due to the complexity, multi-sidedness, opacity and unique characteristics of the sick care ecosystem, we should consider medical care entrepreneurship as a separate domain. NSF iCorps teams developing medical care ideas should have their own sandbox.

Outcomes should include education, resources, networks, mentors and experiential learning with all parts of the stakeholder ecosystem including patients, practitioners, payers, product makers and policy makers. Anything short of that will leave us stuck in the trenches for a long time trying to cross no-man's land.

Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs on Substack and Editor of Digital Health Entrepreneurship