University Innovation Fellows - User contributions [en]

Priorities:MTU University Student Priorities

2017-10-18T17:52:57Z

Ralamber:

= Overview =

Michigan Tech’s campus is poised to be a model for student innovation and entrepreneurship. The State of Michigan has recognized the Houghton / Hancock area as a hotbed of innovation, and efforts to connect the School of Business and the School of Engineering are creating new business opportunities daily.

The problem isn’t ideas. It rarely ever is. Uniquely, Michigan Tech doesn’t suffer from a talent gap. Michigan Tech’s engineers are recruited around the globe for their hands-on experience and industry-focused education.

We’ll include a story to summarize the problem at Michigan Tech:  One day in early April, a venture capitalist (VC) from Silicon Valley came to Michigan Tech to do due-diligence on a new technology being developed in 3D printing. The VC gave a speech and discussed her time at Stanford. She said, “I never thought about being involved in venture capital, but when I got to school, everyone was talking about starting a business and I felt like I needed to get plugged into that ecosystem.” Michigan Tech lacks that passion, enthusiasm, and culture. These three strategies are designed to remedy that challenge.

A new center for innovation and entrepreneurship is the proposed solution. It uses new academic opportunities, event programming, and startup support to drive a culture shift towards innovation and entrepreneurship.

= YouTube Pitch =

{{#Widget:Youtube|id=OqmGpl30Qps}} {{#Widget:Youtube|id=z4flES3-l4I}} {{#Widget:Youtube|id=n-HwGqUWRuo}}  {{#Widget:Youtube|id=jODUyWUVEBM}}

= Strategies for Expansion of Innovation and Entrepreneurship on Campus =

== Strategy One: Innovation Learning Community ==

With the formation of the new Pavlis Honors College on Michigan Tech's campus, the are plenty of new opportunities available to introduce innovation and creative thinking early in the student experience. One of the best ways to inspire a shared vision within students is provide them with the opportunity to spend time with other students who are interested in similar ideas. By creating an environment where students are constantly challenged to think differently in their everyday experiences, they will develop a more diverse set of problem solving skills to implement in their daily lives.

Next year the Pavlis Honors College will have a learning community for first year students in the College. This will be a great opportunity to test out some creative ways to incorporate creative thinking into residence hall life. Resident Assistants are currently required to create programs for their students to participate in and this would be an exceptional opportunity to test out some new ideas. Some of these programs that they do with their students make include some of the events such as the Make-a-thon or the 10X Thinking Workshop.

== Strategy Two: Innovation and Brainstorming Course ==

Currently, first year engineering students can be found using their brainstorming and innovation skills in class. These skills are typically not used again until the student reaches their fourth or fifth year and are taking Senior Design or join an Enterprise Team. There are many instances where students have a hard time trying to think of ideas for projects because they are trying to focus on what they have learned from the books, but when they get out into the real world, the answer will not be in the back of the book.

This class will help students to continue to use their brainstorming and innovation tools that they have learned so that they can use these tools in the future. This course will also help guide students to think outside the box so that it is easier to tackle problems in future courses and in the real world. This could possibly be a program of classes that will take place during both the student's second and third year in order to make sure that the student is ready to tackle the final projects before graduating and heading out into the work force.

== Strategy Three: Innovation Retreat ==

Currently, Michigan Tech has a focus on retreats for Leadership and similar skills, but no such thing for Innovation. There is plenty of time within the curriculum schedules of students who are interested to attend a weekend retreat to the surrounding wilderness of Michigan Tech, and focus solely on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, to help cultivate an Innovative Mindset. 

This retreat would help students cultivate Innovation Mindsets by presenting them with real world challenges, and giving them time to work on finding solutions for these challenges, followed by creating prototypes of their solutions by using whatever resources they find in the surrounding area. On the final day, the students will discuss challenges in the local community of Michigan Tech and how they might go about solving those challenges, as well as other strategies for staying involved in an innovation mindset after they leave the retreat.

== Strategy Four: I&E Event Series ==

After creating an amazing collaborative space on campus, there will be plenty of opportunities to host events focused on innovation and entrepreneurship. These events will focus on creating excitement about the new initiatives on campus and recruit motivated students for the new I&E section of the Pavlis Honors College. The Pathways team has been working on bringing in a few speakers, and the student programming board is already planning an event to be held in the space.

Examples of events that can be held in the space include:

'''Speaker Series''' - Bringing in guest speakers who have had experience with I&E and have proven to be a strong motivating force for involving students. Possible topics include opportunity recognition, legal principles, entrepreneurial finance, strategic partnering and building effective startup teams.

Recent interviews have brought to life the importance of bringing in fresh faces from outside of the Michigan Tech community or alumni who have moved on and are doing incredible things.  Likewise, there should be speakers from a variety of disciplines.

Examples of speakers that we would like to bring in are: Debbie Sterling (Founder/CEO of Goldieblox which produces engineering toys geared for a female market), William Henderickson (Founder/CEO of Avecka, Inc which specializes in particle technology, an example is E-ink), and many more!

'''Make-a-thon''' - An opportunity for student teams to come together and brainstorm possible solutions for an and all ideas. Some of these projects and ideas could potentailly be carried on after the end of the event.

'''3 Day Startup''' - As mentioned in the spring overview, the goal of the event is to connect engineers who may be interested in working with a startup to business leaders with ideas they would love to see come to life.

'''10X Thinking Workshop''' - An opportunity for students to understand the steps to brainstorming and prototyping an idea. One of these already happened on campus in a small scale, but the hope is to have more in order to reach more students. 

== Strategy Five: StartupTech ==

StartupTech is an Enterprise team that connects top student talent to student led startups. It utilizes the existing enterprise infrastructure to ensure student involvement by allowing students to work on a startup team as part of their required credits for graduation. Connecting engineering teams to students motivated by turning an idea into a business will help promote business development far more than it currently is at Michigan Tech.

The program will provide supprt for new entreprenuers by sponsoring workshops, recruiting advisors, and giving these teams a space to work and the resources necessary to turn their dreams into reality. Hopefully this program would be implemented alongside of the expansion to the larger invention space on campus, providing teams with space in a modern office equiped with state of the art technology. Funds would also be available for some business development expenses such as travel expenses, office supplies, hardware, software licenses, etc.

A Board of Directors for the program would consist of faculty involved in I&E on campus, a representative from the Houghton SmartZone and a student with startup and leadership experience. The board will be responsible for selecting the ventures to include in the program as well as monitoring the students participating in the program.

== Strategy Six: Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship ==

=== Command the Dialogue ===

Overview: As mentioned above, the culture at Michigan Tech rarely caters to inventions and entrepreneurship. Although, the new Pavlis Honors College is in the works with Dean Lorelle Meadows to create a Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation within the college. This center would provide staff to bring all resources and inititives currently happening at Michigan Tech under one roof. Then the staff could grow as needed, working to change the culture on campus to be more entrepreneurial. The center will also house a student organization with the mission of increasing entrepreneurship from the student's perspective. The proposed name is MUBX. 

==== 3DS  ====

MUBX will be responsible for bringing the Three Day Startup (3DS) event to Michigan Tech’s campus. The goal of event will be to connect engineers who may be interested in working with a startup to business leaders with ideas that they’d love to see come to fruition.

MUBX will work with the School of Business and Economics to support 3DS startups that leave the event excited about starting a new venture by encouraging them to enter in the [http://www.mtu.edu/business/newventure/ New Venture Competition (NVC)].

==== TEDx  ====

In 2013, Michigan Tech held their first ever TEDx. Only 100 tickets were available and at $10 apiece, they sold out within minutes of going on sale. The event’s reach was limited, but provided a breath of energy to the campus. It got people talking.

==== TechMakers I  ====

TechMakers will be an extension of the TechHacks concept planned and executed by the [https://www.involvement.mtu.edu/organization/ACM Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)] chapter at Michigan Tech. MUBX will support ACM and expand the event to include all majors and facilitate creation across campus.

Teams that move through the 3DS program and are interested in competing in the NVC will be encouraged to attend TechMakers I as an opportunity to deliver a prototype to the NVC judges. 

=== The Opportunity to Learn ===

Overview: The greatest incentive a university can offer a student to encourage learning is credit towards graduation. By applying entrepreneurial and innovative courses to the existing curriculum structure, students will have an opportunity to grow their skill set within the I&E space.

By pulling together existing classes and proposing new ones, the LearnX branch will empower students to take the next step.

==== Lean Startup ====

A lean startup course has already been proposed by the NCIIA Pathways group and is being implemented during the Summer of 2014 as a pilot course. This course will hopefully grow in size and popularity as more students become interested in innovation and entrepreneurship.

==== Design for Organizations ====

Right now Michigan Tech doesn’t offer any comprehensive graphic design or marketing crash course. This (new) course will teach students the basics of the Adobe Creative Suite, as well as basic marketing psychology. The course instruction will center around working with real-world clients and applying the concepts to small businesses (start-ups) and student organizations.   

==== Technology Commercialization ====

As a continuation of a course already offered by Michigan Tech, this section will focus on how to transform research into a viable business. With a strong focus on customer voice and the business model canvas, this class will help researchers and innovators bridge the gap between idea and market success.

==== Grand Challenges Scholars Program ====

The Grand Challenges Scholars Program has five components: service learning, entrepreneurship, inter-disciplinary, research and a global dimension. Michigan Tech has the Pavlis Honors College that parallel this program closely with five pathways: service, innovation, industry, research and global. Michigan Tech also has a letter of commitment to the Grand Scholars Program. After attending the Global Grand Challenges Summit of 2015, a quote that resonated with me was: “inspiring the engineers of tomorrow”. In order to bring this back to Michigan Tech, myself and Amanda Moya, who was also able to attend the Summit, are in the process of inspiring students with the intent of bringing guest speakers to campus and implementing challenge programs in the Pavlis Honors College that allow students to begin working on projects and utilizing all their potential from day one of their time on campus.

Our first formal presentation of the idea is set for October 13th, 2015. By the end of October 2015, we hope to have the necessary stakeholders from the College of Engineering and Pavlis Honors College supporting this strategy. Amanda and I are aiming to present our challenge program idea to the first-year students interested in the Pavlis Honors College and also to the members of the Pavlis Honors College at an all-cohort meeting before the end of the fall 2015 semester in order to introduce students to the idea. We hope to gain student interest and support of the challenge program with students outside the Pavlis Honors College by advertising the guest speakers through Student Activities, MUB Board and on-campus advertising. Before the end of the spring 2016 semester, the goal is to host the first guest speaker in order to gain momentum and keep student interest. If all goes well, we would like to have the challenge program in place for students to begin next year, fall 2016 semester, at the earliest. 

==== Looking Forward ====

While these classes mark a great start in empowering students to extend their development in innovation and entrepreneurship, they won’t be enough in the long term. As a part of LearnX, faculty and staff will be encouraged to offer one-credit seminars in areas they’re passionate about. This could range from an exploration of Google Glass to a series of lectures on programming competitively.

This collection of courses is designed to give students who think they may be interested in innovation or entrepreneurship the opportunity to grow, and dabble, in a formalized setting.

=== Support the Culture ===

==== TechX ====

TechX is the culmination of the previous two strategies. Once a student is introduced to the concept of a startup through MUBX, and is equipped with the tools to make the startup successful though LearnX, they move onto TechX. TechX is a startup incubator modeled after Stanford’s StartX.

TechX will provide a variety of resources to fledgling startups in order to support their development. The concept of TechX is still being developed.  It is being designed by student entrepreneurs, for students.

==== Space ====

Like most universities, space is in short supply at Michigan Tech. TechX will provide startups with premier workspace, featuring an open and flexible floor plan. This space will be designed to support a variety of team, and individual, work. A modern atmosphere and amenities will encourage the best startups to call TechX home.

==== Mentorship ====

A key component to the TechX program will be access to mentorship opportunities through the University. These mentors may include one-on-ones with successful leaders in the industry, or faculty who have technical experience in the startup’s field.

Each startup will be assigned a handpicked team of advisors who will provide advice on running a startup, leading teams, raising capital, and so on.

''Mentorship & Collaboration Sub Project:''

A common theme we have heard is that students don’t know about the resources available to them- including the interests and experience of fellow students.  In order to help connect students to each other and to faculty mentors for projects, an online database system has been proposed. This searchable database would allow entrepreneurial students and faculty to identify their needs for like-minded business partners, or with a background in certain skills. The idea is to encourage collaboration of students across various departments.   All users would have the option and ability to provide as little or as much information about their skills as they’d like, and also be able to tag themselves as having experience with various methods and materials, such as 3D printing, electronics, or marketing strategy.

==== Funding ====

While no significant funding will be provided through the TechX program, small amounts of funds will be made available to teams in order to facilitate business growth. Funding may be allocated for travel, marketing materials, and business needs to help get the startup off the ground.

=== General Overview ===

[[File:MTU TecHX.png]]

= Completed Strategies =

== Invention Space  ==

A small maker space has been completed to be implemented in the current Enterprise lab. At this time, there are very few spaces on campus where students can come together and work collaboratively and have access to prototyping tools and supplies. Much of the renovation necessary to create an effective invention space has been completed, but additional support is needed to gather tools and supplies. This space will allow us to obtain student feedback in order to potentially expand to a much larger and extensive invention space on campus.

This space will serve multiple purposes outside of providing a collaborative workspace. It can be used to hold classes in an non-traditional style classroom with an alternative setup. The Invention Space will also host events focusing on innovation and entrepreneurship on campus mentioned below. The space will also serve as an "IP Free" zone in hopes that students would be less worried about having to worry about legal issues with the University and more focused on creating new ideas.

Key Features:

Movable furniture: tables with adjustable heights, adjustable rolling chairs, and stackable seating.

Prototyping supplies: one wall of the room will be lined with cheap craft supplies and an array of tools for students to use

Technology: projector for student teams to present their ideas and 3-4 desktop computers used for product design

Other: storage space for student teams, portable whiteboards, and power distribution throughout the space for students to plug in

= Related Links =

[http://universityinnovation.org/Magann%20Dykema Magann Dykema] - A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/JoshJay Josh Jay]- A University Innovation Fellow Candidate from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/Rachel%20Kolb Rachel Kolb]- A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/Josh%20Krugh Josh Krugh]- A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/RobLambert1.jpg Rob Lambert;]- A University Innovation Fellow Candidate from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/Kyle%20Ludwig Kyle Ludwig]- A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/ARSH%20SAHU Arsh Sahu] - A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/David%20Shull David Shull]- A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/Brad%20Turner Brad Turner]- A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/Adam%20Weber Adam Weber]- A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[[Michigan Tech|About the University]] - Learn about Michigan Tech including a landscape analysis

'''Michigan Tech Student Priorities''' - Learn about what students are working on

[http://www.mtu.edu/ http://www.mtu.edu/] - Michigan Tech's website

[[Category:Student Priorities|m]]

Priorities:MTU University Student Priorities

2017-10-18T17:40:11Z

Ralamber:

= Overview =

Michigan Tech’s campus is poised to be a model for student innovation and entrepreneurship. The State of Michigan has recognized the Houghton / Hancock area as a hotbed of innovation, and efforts to connect the School of Business and the School of Engineering are creating new business opportunities daily.

The problem isn’t ideas. It rarely ever is. Uniquely, Michigan Tech doesn’t suffer from a talent gap. Michigan Tech’s engineers are recruited around the globe for their hands-on experience and industry-focused education.

We’ll include a story to summarize the problem at Michigan Tech:  One day in early April, a venture capitalist (VC) from Silicon Valley came to Michigan Tech to do due-diligence on a new technology being developed in 3D printing. The VC gave a speech and discussed her time at Stanford. She said, “I never thought about being involved in venture capital, but when I got to school, everyone was talking about starting a business and I felt like I needed to get plugged into that ecosystem.” Michigan Tech lacks that passion, enthusiasm, and culture. These three strategies are designed to remedy that challenge.

A new center for innovation and entrepreneurship is the proposed solution. It uses new academic opportunities, event programming, and startup support to drive a culture shift towards innovation and entrepreneurship.

= YouTube Pitch =

{{#Widget:Youtube|id=OqmGpl30Qps}} {{#Widget:Youtube|id=z4flES3-l4I}} {{#Widget:Youtube|id=n-HwGqUWRuo}}  {{#Widget:Youtube|id=jODUyWUVEBM}}

= Strategies for Expansion of Innovation and Entrepreneurship on Campus =

== Strategy One: Innovation Learning Community ==

With the formation of the new Pavlis Honors College on Michigan Tech's campus, the are plenty of new opportunities available to introduce innovation and creative thinking early in the student experience. One of the best ways to inspire a shared vision within students is provide them with the opportunity to spend time with other students who are interested in similar ideas. By creating an environment where students are constantly challenged to think differently in their everyday experiences, they will develop a more diverse set of problem solving skills to implement in their daily lives.

Next year the Pavlis Honors College will have a learning community for first year students in the College. This will be a great opportunity to test out some creative ways to incorporate creative thinking into residence hall life. Resident Assistants are currently required to create programs for their students to participate in and this would be an exceptional opportunity to test out some new ideas. Some of these programs that they do with their students make include some of the events such as the Make-a-thon or the 10X Thinking Workshop.

== Strategy Two: Innovation and Brainstorming Course ==

Currently, first year engineering students can be found using their brainstorming and innovation skills in class. These skills are typically not used again until the student reaches their fourth or fifth year and are taking Senior Design or join an Enterprise Team. There are many instances where students have a hard time trying to think of ideas for projects because they are trying to focus on what they have learned from the books, but when they get out into the real world, the answer will not be in the back of the book.

This class will help students to continue to use their brainstorming and innovation tools that they have learned so that they can use these tools in the future. This course will also help guide students to think outside the box so that it is easier to tackle problems in future courses and in the real world. This could possibly be a program of classes that will take place during both the student's second and third year in order to make sure that the student is ready to tackle the final projects before graduating and heading out into the work force.

== Strategy Three: Invention Space  ==

A small maker space is currently in the works to be implemented in the current Enterprise lab. At this time, there are very few spaces on campus where students can come together and work collaboratively and have access to prototyping tools and supplies. Much of the renovation necessary to create an effective invention space has been completed, but additional support is needed to gather tools and supplies. This space will allow us to obtain student feedback in order to potentially expand to a much larger and extensive invention space on campus.

This space will serve multiple purposes outside of providing a collaborative workspace. It can be used to hold classes in an non-traditional style classroom with an alternative setup. The Invention Space will also host events focusing on innovation and entrepreneurship on campus mentioned below. The space will also serve as an "IP Free" zone in hopes that students would be less worried about having to worry about legal issues with the University and more focused on creating new ideas.

Key Features:

Movable furniture: tables with adjustable heights, adjustable rolling chairs, and stackable seating.

Prototyping supplies: one wall of the room will be lined with cheap craft supplies and an array of tools for students to use

Technology: projector for student teams to present their ideas and 3-4 desktop computers used for product design

Other: storage space for student teams, portable whiteboards, and power distribution throughout the space for students to plug in

== Strategy Four: I&E Event Series ==

After creating an amazing collaborative space on campus, there will be plenty of opportunities to host events focused on innovation and entrepreneurship. These events will focus on creating excitement about the new initiatives on campus and recruit motivated students for the new I&E section of the Pavlis Honors College. The Pathways team has been working on bringing in a few speakers, and the student programming board is already planning an event to be held in the space.

Examples of events that can be held in the space include:

'''Speaker Series''' - Bringing in guest speakers who have had experience with I&E and have proven to be a strong motivating force for involving students. Possible topics include opportunity recognition, legal principles, entrepreneurial finance, strategic partnering and building effective startup teams.

Recent interviews have brought to life the importance of bringing in fresh faces from outside of the Michigan Tech community or alumni who have moved on and are doing incredible things.  Likewise, there should be speakers from a variety of disciplines.

Examples of speakers that we would like to bring in are: Debbie Sterling (Founder/CEO of Goldieblox which produces engineering toys geared for a female market), William Henderickson (Founder/CEO of Avecka, Inc which specializes in particle technology, an example is E-ink), and many more!

'''Make-a-thon''' - An opportunity for student teams to come together and brainstorm possible solutions for an and all ideas. Some of these projects and ideas could potentailly be carried on after the end of the event.

'''3 Day Startup''' - As mentioned in the spring overview, the goal of the event is to connect engineers who may be interested in working with a startup to business leaders with ideas they would love to see come to life.

'''10X Thinking Workshop''' - An opportunity for students to understand the steps to brainstorming and prototyping an idea. One of these already happened on campus in a small scale, but the hope is to have more in order to reach more students. 

== Strategy Five: StartupTech ==

StartupTech is an Enterprise team that connects top student talent to student led startups. It utilizes the existing enterprise infrastructure to ensure student involvement by allowing students to work on a startup team as part of their required credits for graduation. Connecting engineering teams to students motivated by turning an idea into a business will help promote business development far more than it currently is at Michigan Tech.

The program will provide supprt for new entreprenuers by sponsoring workshops, recruiting advisors, and giving these teams a space to work and the resources necessary to turn their dreams into reality. Hopefully this program would be implemented alongside of the expansion to the larger invention space on campus, providing teams with space in a modern office equiped with state of the art technology. Funds would also be available for some business development expenses such as travel expenses, office supplies, hardware, software licenses, etc.

A Board of Directors for the program would consist of faculty involved in I&E on campus, a representative from the Houghton SmartZone and a student with startup and leadership experience. The board will be responsible for selecting the ventures to include in the program as well as monitoring the students participating in the program.

== Strategy Six: Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship ==

=== Command the Dialogue ===

Overview: As mentioned above, the culture at Michigan Tech rarely caters to inventions and entrepreneurship. Although, the new Pavlis Honors College is in the works with Dean Lorelle Meadows to create a Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation within the college. This center would provide staff to bring all resources and inititives currently happening at Michigan Tech under one roof. Then the staff could grow as needed, working to change the culture on campus to be more entrepreneurial. The center will also house a student organization with the mission of increasing entrepreneurship from the student's perspective. The proposed name is MUBX. 

==== 3DS  ====

MUBX will be responsible for bringing the Three Day Startup (3DS) event to Michigan Tech’s campus. The goal of event will be to connect engineers who may be interested in working with a startup to business leaders with ideas that they’d love to see come to fruition.

MUBX will work with the School of Business and Economics to support 3DS startups that leave the event excited about starting a new venture by encouraging them to enter in the [http://www.mtu.edu/business/newventure/ New Venture Competition (NVC)].

==== TEDx  ====

In 2013, Michigan Tech held their first ever TEDx. Only 100 tickets were available and at $10 apiece, they sold out within minutes of going on sale. The event’s reach was limited, but provided a breath of energy to the campus. It got people talking.

==== TechMakers I  ====

TechMakers will be an extension of the TechHacks concept planned and executed by the [https://www.involvement.mtu.edu/organization/ACM Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)] chapter at Michigan Tech. MUBX will support ACM and expand the event to include all majors and facilitate creation across campus.

Teams that move through the 3DS program and are interested in competing in the NVC will be encouraged to attend TechMakers I as an opportunity to deliver a prototype to the NVC judges. 

=== The Opportunity to Learn ===

Overview: The greatest incentive a university can offer a student to encourage learning is credit towards graduation. By applying entrepreneurial and innovative courses to the existing curriculum structure, students will have an opportunity to grow their skill set within the I&E space.

By pulling together existing classes and proposing new ones, the LearnX branch will empower students to take the next step.

==== Lean Startup ====

A lean startup course has already been proposed by the NCIIA Pathways group and is being implemented during the Summer of 2014 as a pilot course. This course will hopefully grow in size and popularity as more students become interested in innovation and entrepreneurship.

==== Design for Organizations ====

Right now Michigan Tech doesn’t offer any comprehensive graphic design or marketing crash course. This (new) course will teach students the basics of the Adobe Creative Suite, as well as basic marketing psychology. The course instruction will center around working with real-world clients and applying the concepts to small businesses (start-ups) and student organizations.   

==== Technology Commercialization ====

As a continuation of a course already offered by Michigan Tech, this section will focus on how to transform research into a viable business. With a strong focus on customer voice and the business model canvas, this class will help researchers and innovators bridge the gap between idea and market success.

==== Grand Challenges Scholars Program ====

The Grand Challenges Scholars Program has five components: service learning, entrepreneurship, inter-disciplinary, research and a global dimension. Michigan Tech has the Pavlis Honors College that parallel this program closely with five pathways: service, innovation, industry, research and global. Michigan Tech also has a letter of commitment to the Grand Scholars Program. After attending the Global Grand Challenges Summit of 2015, a quote that resonated with me was: “inspiring the engineers of tomorrow”. In order to bring this back to Michigan Tech, myself and Amanda Moya, who was also able to attend the Summit, are in the process of inspiring students with the intent of bringing guest speakers to campus and implementing challenge programs in the Pavlis Honors College that allow students to begin working on projects and utilizing all their potential from day one of their time on campus.

Our first formal presentation of the idea is set for October 13th, 2015. By the end of October 2015, we hope to have the necessary stakeholders from the College of Engineering and Pavlis Honors College supporting this strategy. Amanda and I are aiming to present our challenge program idea to the first-year students interested in the Pavlis Honors College and also to the members of the Pavlis Honors College at an all-cohort meeting before the end of the fall 2015 semester in order to introduce students to the idea. We hope to gain student interest and support of the challenge program with students outside the Pavlis Honors College by advertising the guest speakers through Student Activities, MUB Board and on-campus advertising. Before the end of the spring 2016 semester, the goal is to host the first guest speaker in order to gain momentum and keep student interest. If all goes well, we would like to have the challenge program in place for students to begin next year, fall 2016 semester, at the earliest. 

==== Looking Forward ====

While these classes mark a great start in empowering students to extend their development in innovation and entrepreneurship, they won’t be enough in the long term. As a part of LearnX, faculty and staff will be encouraged to offer one-credit seminars in areas they’re passionate about. This could range from an exploration of Google Glass to a series of lectures on programming competitively.

This collection of courses is designed to give students who think they may be interested in innovation or entrepreneurship the opportunity to grow, and dabble, in a formalized setting.

=== Support the Culture ===

==== TechX ====

TechX is the culmination of the previous two strategies. Once a student is introduced to the concept of a startup through MUBX, and is equipped with the tools to make the startup successful though LearnX, they move onto TechX. TechX is a startup incubator modeled after Stanford’s StartX.

TechX will provide a variety of resources to fledgling startups in order to support their development. The concept of TechX is still being developed.  It is being designed by student entrepreneurs, for students.

==== Space ====

Like most universities, space is in short supply at Michigan Tech. TechX will provide startups with premier workspace, featuring an open and flexible floor plan. This space will be designed to support a variety of team, and individual, work. A modern atmosphere and amenities will encourage the best startups to call TechX home.

==== Mentorship ====

A key component to the TechX program will be access to mentorship opportunities through the University. These mentors may include one-on-ones with successful leaders in the industry, or faculty who have technical experience in the startup’s field.

Each startup will be assigned a handpicked team of advisors who will provide advice on running a startup, leading teams, raising capital, and so on.

''Mentorship & Collaboration Sub Project:''

A common theme we have heard is that students don’t know about the resources available to them- including the interests and experience of fellow students.  In order to help connect students to each other and to faculty mentors for projects, an online database system has been proposed. This searchable database would allow entrepreneurial students and faculty to identify their needs for like-minded business partners, or with a background in certain skills. The idea is to encourage collaboration of students across various departments.   All users would have the option and ability to provide as little or as much information about their skills as they’d like, and also be able to tag themselves as having experience with various methods and materials, such as 3D printing, electronics, or marketing strategy.

==== Funding ====

While no significant funding will be provided through the TechX program, small amounts of funds will be made available to teams in order to facilitate business growth. Funding may be allocated for travel, marketing materials, and business needs to help get the startup off the ground.

=== General Overview ===

[[File:MTU TecHX.png]]

= Related Links =

[http://universityinnovation.org/Magann%20Dykema Magann Dykema] - A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/JoshJay Josh Jay]- A University Innovation Fellow Candidate from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/Rachel%20Kolb Rachel Kolb]- A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/Josh%20Krugh Josh Krugh]- A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/RobLambert1.jpg Rob Lambert;]- A University Innovation Fellow Candidate from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/Kyle%20Ludwig Kyle Ludwig]- A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/ARSH%20SAHU Arsh Sahu] - A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/David%20Shull David Shull]- A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/Brad%20Turner Brad Turner]- A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/Adam%20Weber Adam Weber]- A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[[Michigan Tech|About the University]] - Learn about Michigan Tech including a landscape analysis

'''Michigan Tech Student Priorities''' - Learn about what students are working on

[http://www.mtu.edu/ http://www.mtu.edu/] - Michigan Tech's website

[[Category:Student Priorities|m]]

Priorities:MTU University Student Priorities

2017-10-18T17:39:42Z

Ralamber:

= Overview =

Michigan Tech’s campus is poised to be a model for student innovation and entrepreneurship. The State of Michigan has recognized the Houghton / Hancock area as a hotbed of innovation, and efforts to connect the School of Business and the School of Engineering are creating new business opportunities daily.

The problem isn’t ideas. It rarely ever is. Uniquely, Michigan Tech doesn’t suffer from a talent gap. Michigan Tech’s engineers are recruited around the globe for their hands-on experience and industry-focused education.

We’ll include a story to summarize the problem at Michigan Tech:  One day in early April, a venture capitalist (VC) from Silicon Valley came to Michigan Tech to do due-diligence on a new technology being developed in 3D printing. The VC gave a speech and discussed her time at Stanford. She said, “I never thought about being involved in venture capital, but when I got to school, everyone was talking about starting a business and I felt like I needed to get plugged into that ecosystem.” Michigan Tech lacks that passion, enthusiasm, and culture. These three strategies are designed to remedy that challenge.

A new center for innovation and entrepreneurship is the proposed solution. It uses new academic opportunities, event programming, and startup support to drive a culture shift towards innovation and entrepreneurship.

= YouTube Pitch =

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= Strategies for Expansion of Innovation and Entrepreneurship on Campus =

== Strategy One: Innovation Learning Community ==

With the formation of the new Pavlis Honors College on Michigan Tech's campus, the are plenty of new opportunities available to introduce innovation and creative thinking early in the student experience. One of the best ways to inspire a shared vision within students is provide them with the opportunity to spend time with other students who are interested in similar ideas. By creating an environment where students are constantly challenged to think differently in their everyday experiences, they will develop a more diverse set of problem solving skills to implement in their daily lives.

Next year the Pavlis Honors College will have a learning community for first year students in the College. This will be a great opportunity to test out some creative ways to incorporate creative thinking into residence hall life. Resident Assistants are currently required to create programs for their students to participate in and this would be an exceptional opportunity to test out some new ideas. Some of these programs that they do with their students make include some of the events such as the Make-a-thon or the 10X Thinking Workshop.

== Strategy Two: Innovation and Brainstorming Course ==

Currently, first year engineering students can be found using their brainstorming and innovation skills in class. These skills are typically not used again until the student reaches their fourth or fifth year and are taking Senior Design or join an Enterprise Team. There are many instances where students have a hard time trying to think of ideas for projects because they are trying to focus on what they have learned from the books, but when they get out into the real world, the answer will not be in the back of the book.

This class will help students to continue to use their brainstorming and innovation tools that they have learned so that they can use these tools in the future. This course will also help guide students to think outside the box so that it is easier to tackle problems in future courses and in the real world. This could possibly be a program of classes that will take place during both the student's second and third year in order to make sure that the student is ready to tackle the final projects before graduating and heading out into the work force.

== Strategy Three: Invention Space  ==

A small maker space is currently in the works to be implemented in the current Enterprise lab. At this time, there are very few spaces on campus where students can come together and work collaboratively and have access to prototyping tools and supplies. Much of the renovation necessary to create an effective invention space has been completed, but additional support is needed to gather tools and supplies. This space will allow us to obtain student feedback in order to potentially expand to a much larger and extensive invention space on campus.

This space will serve multiple purposes outside of providing a collaborative workspace. It can be used to hold classes in an non-traditional style classroom with an alternative setup. The Invention Space will also host events focusing on innovation and entrepreneurship on campus mentioned below. The space will also serve as an "IP Free" zone in hopes that students would be less worried about having to worry about legal issues with the University and more focused on creating new ideas.

Key Features:

Movable furniture: tables with adjustable heights, adjustable rolling chairs, and stackable seating.

Prototyping supplies: one wall of the room will be lined with cheap craft supplies and an array of tools for students to use

Technology: projector for student teams to present their ideas and 3-4 desktop computers used for product design

Other: storage space for student teams, portable whiteboards, and power distribution throughout the space for students to plug in

== Strategy Four: I&E Event Series ==

After creating an amazing collaborative space on campus, there will be plenty of opportunities to host events focused on innovation and entrepreneurship. These events will focus on creating excitement about the new initiatives on campus and recruit motivated students for the new I&E section of the Pavlis Honors College. The Pathways team has been working on bringing in a few speakers, and the student programming board is already planning an event to be held in the space.

Examples of events that can be held in the space include:

'''Speaker Series''' - Bringing in guest speakers who have had experience with I&E and have proven to be a strong motivating force for involving students. Possible topics include opportunity recognition, legal principles, entrepreneurial finance, strategic partnering and building effective startup teams.

Recent interviews have brought to life the importance of bringing in fresh faces from outside of the Michigan Tech community or alumni who have moved on and are doing incredible things.  Likewise, there should be speakers from a variety of disciplines.

Examples of speakers that we would like to bring in are: Debbie Sterling (Founder/CEO of Goldieblox which produces engineering toys geared for a female market), William Henderickson (Founder/CEO of Avecka, Inc which specializes in particle technology, an example is E-ink), and many more!

'''Make-a-thon''' - An opportunity for student teams to come together and brainstorm possible solutions for an and all ideas. Some of these projects and ideas could potentailly be carried on after the end of the event.

'''3 Day Startup''' - As mentioned in the spring overview, the goal of the event is to connect engineers who may be interested in working with a startup to business leaders with ideas they would love to see come to life.

'''10X Thinking Workshop''' - An opportunity for students to understand the steps to brainstorming and prototyping an idea. One of these already happened on campus in a small scale, but the hope is to have more in order to reach more students. 

== Strategy Five: StartupTech ==

StartupTech is an Enterprise team that connects top student talent to student led startups. It utilizes the existing enterprise infrastructure to ensure student involvement by allowing students to work on a startup team as part of their required credits for graduation. Connecting engineering teams to students motivated by turning an idea into a business will help promote business development far more than it currently is at Michigan Tech.

The program will provide supprt for new entreprenuers by sponsoring workshops, recruiting advisors, and giving these teams a space to work and the resources necessary to turn their dreams into reality. Hopefully this program would be implemented alongside of the expansion to the larger invention space on campus, providing teams with space in a modern office equiped with state of the art technology. Funds would also be available for some business development expenses such as travel expenses, office supplies, hardware, software licenses, etc.

A Board of Directors for the program would consist of faculty involved in I&E on campus, a representative from the Houghton SmartZone and a student with startup and leadership experience. The board will be responsible for selecting the ventures to include in the program as well as monitoring the students participating in the program.

== Strategy Six: Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship ==

=== Command the Dialogue ===

Overview: As mentioned above, the culture at Michigan Tech rarely caters to inventions and entrepreneurship. Although, the new Pavlis Honors College is in the works with Dean Lorelle Meadows to create a Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation within the college. This center would provide staff to bring all resources and inititives currently happening at Michigan Tech under one roof. Then the staff could grow as needed, working to change the culture on campus to be more entrepreneurial. The center will also house a student organization with the mission of increasing entrepreneurship from the student's perspective. The proposed name is MUBX. 

==== 3DS  ====

MUBX will be responsible for bringing the Three Day Startup (3DS) event to Michigan Tech’s campus. The goal of event will be to connect engineers who may be interested in working with a startup to business leaders with ideas that they’d love to see come to fruition.

MUBX will work with the School of Business and Economics to support 3DS startups that leave the event excited about starting a new venture by encouraging them to enter in the [http://www.mtu.edu/business/newventure/ New Venture Competition (NVC)].

==== TEDx  ====

In 2013, Michigan Tech held their first ever TEDx. Only 100 tickets were available and at $10 apiece, they sold out within minutes of going on sale. The event’s reach was limited, but provided a breath of energy to the campus. It got people talking.

==== TechMakers I  ====

TechMakers will be an extension of the TechHacks concept planned and executed by the [https://www.involvement.mtu.edu/organization/ACM Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)] chapter at Michigan Tech. MUBX will support ACM and expand the event to include all majors and facilitate creation across campus.

Teams that move through the 3DS program and are interested in competing in the NVC will be encouraged to attend TechMakers I as an opportunity to deliver a prototype to the NVC judges. 

=== The Opportunity to Learn ===

Overview: The greatest incentive a university can offer a student to encourage learning is credit towards graduation. By applying entrepreneurial and innovative courses to the existing curriculum structure, students will have an opportunity to grow their skill set within the I&E space.

By pulling together existing classes and proposing new ones, the LearnX branch will empower students to take the next step.

==== Lean Startup ====

A lean startup course has already been proposed by the NCIIA Pathways group and is being implemented during the Summer of 2014 as a pilot course. This course will hopefully grow in size and popularity as more students become interested in innovation and entrepreneurship.

==== Design for Organizations ====

Right now Michigan Tech doesn’t offer any comprehensive graphic design or marketing crash course. This (new) course will teach students the basics of the Adobe Creative Suite, as well as basic marketing psychology. The course instruction will center around working with real-world clients and applying the concepts to small businesses (start-ups) and student organizations.   

==== Technology Commercialization ====

As a continuation of a course already offered by Michigan Tech, this section will focus on how to transform research into a viable business. With a strong focus on customer voice and the business model canvas, this class will help researchers and innovators bridge the gap between idea and market success.

==== Grand Challenges Scholars Program ====

The Grand Challenges Scholars Program has five components: service learning, entrepreneurship, inter-disciplinary, research and a global dimension. Michigan Tech has the Pavlis Honors College that parallel this program closely with five pathways: service, innovation, industry, research and global. Michigan Tech also has a letter of commitment to the Grand Scholars Program. After attending the Global Grand Challenges Summit of 2015, a quote that resonated with me was: “inspiring the engineers of tomorrow”. In order to bring this back to Michigan Tech, myself and Amanda Moya, who was also able to attend the Summit, are in the process of inspiring students with the intent of bringing guest speakers to campus and implementing challenge programs in the Pavlis Honors College that allow students to begin working on projects and utilizing all their potential from day one of their time on campus.

Our first formal presentation of the idea is set for October 13th, 2015. By the end of October 2015, we hope to have the necessary stakeholders from the College of Engineering and Pavlis Honors College supporting this strategy. Amanda and I are aiming to present our challenge program idea to the first-year students interested in the Pavlis Honors College and also to the members of the Pavlis Honors College at an all-cohort meeting before the end of the fall 2015 semester in order to introduce students to the idea. We hope to gain student interest and support of the challenge program with students outside the Pavlis Honors College by advertising the guest speakers through Student Activities, MUB Board and on-campus advertising. Before the end of the spring 2016 semester, the goal is to host the first guest speaker in order to gain momentum and keep student interest. If all goes well, we would like to have the challenge program in place for students to begin next year, fall 2016 semester, at the earliest. 

==== Looking Forward ====

While these classes mark a great start in empowering students to extend their development in innovation and entrepreneurship, they won’t be enough in the long term. As a part of LearnX, faculty and staff will be encouraged to offer one-credit seminars in areas they’re passionate about. This could range from an exploration of Google Glass to a series of lectures on programming competitively.

This collection of courses is designed to give students who think they may be interested in innovation or entrepreneurship the opportunity to grow, and dabble, in a formalized setting.

=== Support the Culture ===

==== TechX ====

TechX is the culmination of the previous two strategies. Once a student is introduced to the concept of a startup through MUBX, and is equipped with the tools to make the startup successful though LearnX, they move onto TechX. TechX is a startup incubator modeled after Stanford’s StartX.

TechX will provide a variety of resources to fledgling startups in order to support their development. The concept of TechX is still being developed.  It is being designed by student entrepreneurs, for students.

==== Space ====

Like most universities, space is in short supply at Michigan Tech. TechX will provide startups with premier workspace, featuring an open and flexible floor plan. This space will be designed to support a variety of team, and individual, work. A modern atmosphere and amenities will encourage the best startups to call TechX home.

==== Mentorship ====

A key component to the TechX program will be access to mentorship opportunities through the University. These mentors may include one-on-ones with successful leaders in the industry, or faculty who have technical experience in the startup’s field.

Each startup will be assigned a handpicked team of advisors who will provide advice on running a startup, leading teams, raising capital, and so on.

''Mentorship & Collaboration Sub Project:''

A common theme we have heard is that students don’t know about the resources available to them- including the interests and experience of fellow students.  In order to help connect students to each other and to faculty mentors for projects, an online database system has been proposed. This searchable database would allow entrepreneurial students and faculty to identify their needs for like-minded business partners, or with a background in certain skills. The idea is to encourage collaboration of students across various departments.   All users would have the option and ability to provide as little or as much information about their skills as they’d like, and also be able to tag themselves as having experience with various methods and materials, such as 3D printing, electronics, or marketing strategy.

==== Funding ====

While no significant funding will be provided through the TechX program, small amounts of funds will be made available to teams in order to facilitate business growth. Funding may be allocated for travel, marketing materials, and business needs to help get the startup off the ground.

=== General Overview ===

[[File:MTU TecHX.png]]

= Related Links =

[http://universityinnovation.org/Magann%20Dykema Magann Dykema] - A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/JoshJay Josh Jay]- A University Innovation Fellow Candidate from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/Rachel%20Kolb Rachel Kolb]- A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/Josh%20Krugh Josh Krugh]- A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/RobLambert1.jpg Rob Lambert;]- A University Innovation Fellow Candidate from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/Kyle%20Ludwig Kyle Ludwig]- A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/ARSH%20SAHU Arsh Sahu] - A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/David%20Shull David Shull]- A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/Brad%20Turner Brad Turner]- A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/Adam%20Weber Adam Weber]- A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/MTU%20University%20Student%20Priorities Michigan Tech Student Priorities] - Learn about what students are working on

[http://www.mtu.edu/ http://www.mtu.edu/] - Michigan Tech's website

[[Michigan Tech|About the University]] - Learn about Michigan Tech including a landscape analysis

'''Michigan Tech Student Priorities''' - Learn about what students are working on

[http://www.mtu.edu/ http://www.mtu.edu/] - Michigan Tech's website

[[Category:Student Priorities|m]]

School:Michigan Technological University

2017-10-18T17:38:37Z

Ralamber:

[[File:Michigan Tech Sign.jpg|frame]]

= Overview =

Michigan Technological University is a world class research university looking to further encourage the startup culture on campus. Many of the resources available to students come from other students in the form of events and clubs. This wiki page will serve as a running record of the resources available to students on the Michigan Tech campus.  

= Student Entrepreneurship  =

Michigan Tech offers students a variety of resources to student entrepreneurs. While some of them are easy to come by, others are more challenging for students to find. A few of the top resources are listed below: 

*'''Bob Mark Elevator Pitch Competition: '''The Bob Mark memorial elevator pitch competition was designed to encourage student entrepreneurship at Michigan Tech. The competition brings in over 30 aspiring small businesses together to present their idea in three minutes to over 150 audience members. 
*'''New Venture Competition:''' The New Venture Competition is a joint partnership between Michigan Tech and Central Michigan University where startups get business plan feedback, mentorship, and an opportunity to win over $30,000 for their new idea. 
*'''Accelerate Michigan: '''Accelerate Michigan is a pitch competition held annually in the fall.It has a branch for students where 27 teams are selected as semi-finalists to compete at the Cobo Center in Detroit for a chance at $20,000.
*'''Rice Business Plan Competiton: '''The Rice Business Plan Competiton is located at Rice University in Houston, Texas and offers the potential for over $1,000,000 in prizes. Michigan Tech may help with travel expenses. At least one graduate student must be on the student-majority-led team.
*'''Winter WonderHack''': TechHacks is an event put on by the ACM chapter at Michigan Tech where students are invited to hack on new projects for 24-36 hours. ACM also funds and supports trips to MHacks and Illinois Hacks where students are encouraged to hack on new projects.

= Faculty Entrepreneurship =

Faculty at Michigan Tech are being encouraged (more and more) to take their research to market. With classes like Technology Commercialization faculty are being given the tools to take their ideas to market. A few resources available to faculty are: 

*'''Michigan Tech Entrepreneurship Support Center''': The support center exists to allow for new technologies to move towards commercialization without having to deal with the legal hassles of filing as a business. The support center allows small businesses to operate under their legal umbrella while they establish their venture. 
*'''Technology Commercialization Department: '''Michigan Tech has an entire department (led by Jim Baker) devoted to helping faculty and graduate students move their research from the lab to a commercially available product. 

= General  Entrepreneurship =

While it can sometimes be helpful to break the resources available into faculty and students, there are many resources available to all entrepreneurial minded individuals around Michigan Tech. A few of them are highlighted below: 

*'''SmartZone''': the SmartZone in Houghton offers a variety of services to inspiring entrepreneurs. From their SmartStart program which guides startups through a curriculum to validate their idea, to low cost office space the SmartZone can help move an idea into reality quickly. With a major state grant the smartzone is able to offer world class services at a low cost. For students at Michigan Tech faculty, a strategic partnership between the University and the Smartzone makes many of the services free. 
*'''Michigan Tech I-Corps: '''The Michigan Tech I-Corps program gives a four-week program on customer discover and lean startup a la Steve Blank. The program is designed to introduce startups and researchers looking to commercialize their work on how to provide value for their discovered customer segments.
<div></div>
= Facilitating University-Industry Collaboration =

Michigan Tech is known for the reasearch that is done on and around campus. There are 20 researsch centers that are connected with the university.

These research centers include:

Advanced Power Systems Research Center (APSRC), Advanced Sustainable Iron and Steel Center (ASISC),Biotechnology Research Center (BRC), Center for Agile and Interconnected Microgrids (AIM), Center for Computer Systems Research (CCSR), Center for Environmentally Benign Functional Materials (CEBFM), Center for Water and Society (CWS), Computational Science and Engineering Research Institute (CSERI), Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences Institute (EPSSI), Ecosystem Science Center (ESC), Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC), Institute of Materials Processing (IMP), Keweenaw Research Center (KRC), Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI), Michigan Tech Transportation Institute (MTTI), Multi-Scale Technologies Institute (MuSTI), Pre-College Innovative Outreach Institute (PIOI),  and Sustainable Futures Institute (SFI)

Enterprise Programs  and Senior Design Projects are also used to connect the university with industry. Michigan Tech has 26 Enterprise teams across different majors where students are working together to innovate and solve some practical problem. Some of these enterprise expieriences lead to opportunities where students may start a business. 

Even before graduation, Michigan Tech students are finding meaningful work experiences in industry.  From Summer 2013-Spring 2014, 337 co-ops/internships were reported at Michigan Tech.  Futhermore, Michigan Tech was a wonderful relationship with industry as shown by the fact that 370 companies drove/flew out to Michigan Tech for the Fall 2015 career fair.

= Landscape Analysis =

Michigan Tech trains and equips some of the best students in the country whether it is business and economics, engineering, forest resources and environmental sciences, sciences and arts, or technology. The Houghton Smart Zone and associated resources provide an excellent support structure for new businesses, and contests such as the New Venture Competition inject much needed funding into the startup culture at Michigan Tech.

Despite these resources there has not been widespread proliferation of student led startups at the University.

In speaking with several would-be founders, the bottleneck seems to be finding talented individuals who compliment the needs of the startups. Students not involved in the startup culture at Michigan Tech, and whom have progressed far enough through their curriculum to add significant value to a startup, seem to be reluctant to add another responsibility to their already busy schedule.

Furthermore, it is challenging for founders to find the top-talent at Michigan Tech to involve in their projects. Current methods rely on unstructured social connections and, in many cases, settling for whomever agrees to help. 

The current enterprise and senior design structure is great for connecting motivated students to funded projects and have been very successful in creating some truly incredible results. However in our observations it seems that often times the students involved with these enterprise teams are more engaged with the challenge and less so in the viability of their project as a business. 

Put simply, we believe there is often disconnect between those passionate about what they are working on and those passionate about creating a business.

If there were a way to connect founders with the top self-motivated talent within the University, one of the final bottlenecks for a thriving startup culture would be removed. We believe we can remove this bottleneck by merging the successes brought forth by the enterprise and senior design structure with students who have demonstrated business acumen and are passionate about transforming ideas into a new venture.
<div>Full Landscape Analysis can be found [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jBrl_X0sFYFq4Pxls0W8xLrQZoEvKscpGZBJGRhfl-o/edit?usp=sharing here] (Updated Fall 2017). </div><div> </div>

= Related Links =

[[Magann Dykema|Magann Dykema]] - A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/JoshJay Josh Jay]- A University Innovation Fellow Candidate from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/Rachel%20Kolb Rachel Kolb]- A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[[Josh Krugh|Josh Krugh]]- A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/RobLambert1.jpg Rob Lambert ]- A University Innovation Fellow Candidate from Michigan Tech

[http://universityinnovation.org/Kyle%20Ludwig Kyle Ludwig]- A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[[ARSH SAHU|Arsh Sahu]] - A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[[David Shull|David Shull]]- A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[[Brad Turner|Brad Turner]]- A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

[[Adam Weber|Adam Weber]]- A University Innovation Fellow from Michigan Tech

'''About the University''' - Learn about Michigan Tech including a landscape analysis

[[MTU University Student Priorities|Michigan Tech Student Priorities]] - Learn about what students are working on

[http://www.mtu.edu/ http://www.mtu.edu/] - Michigan Tech's website

[[Category:Deep Dives|Deep_Dives]] [[Category:Universities]]

Resource:How and why you should organize a 'Free Hugs' event to kickoff the school year

2017-09-10T15:45:24Z

Ralamber:

''<span style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[[File:Abrazosgratis3.png|frame|Abrazosgratis3.png]]''''<span style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In hugging, as in life, there will be'<span style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">rejection. Don’t worry about it, keep doing good!”

= <span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Introduction =

 <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The concept

<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With all of the problems in the world today, everyone could use a little more love in their lives, so having an easy, low stress way to do that can make a large impact on the campus and everyone in it, so what easier way is there than giving hugs to people?

<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Origin

<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The idea of a ‘Free Hugs’ event on campus came about as an idea to “spread the love” as students get back in the swing of the semester. The Importance

<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This event gave students a way to talk about how they feel, what kind of things they might want changed on the campus, and someone with whom to talk. The goal was to make students more comfortable on the campus. Simplicity

<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the major advantages of this initiative was the simplicity of the idea and its execution. A Free Hugs event can create a big impact on individual students. This big impact was seen as especially true for new students who did not yet feel included in their university community.

<span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Possible outcomes Possible outcomes of this event include:
<ul style="margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;">
<li>Spreading love, care, and friendship among students.</li>
<li>Making students, especially the freshmen and transfer students, feel welcomed.</li>
<li>Building local and community awareness of UIF through personal marketing and potential media coverage surrounding the event.</li>
<li>Interviewing students and asking them about their lives, and their stories; what they are going through, what they are excited about for the upcoming semester, etc.</li>
<li>Learning about opportunities for improvement at your university, for example course signup, information services, workload, etc.</li>
</ul>

= <span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Key elements of success =

'''Timing'''

<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mahmoud leveraged existing welcome events on campus to ensure that many students would be in the vicinity when they held the event. This ensured that the event was properly framed in the students’ minds as a welcome event, and it increased the number of students that Mahmoud was able to reach. Other options include stressful times like examination periods or the ends of the semester.

<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mentality

<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some people don’t want a hug, Mahmoud cautioned his team that this might be the case, and stressed that it’s not the team’s job to force anyone to hug them. Their purpose there was to share some love with the people that passed.

<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">''“Some people just don’t like touching people, or it's a cultural thing, or whatever. Don’t force hugs on people! You can just smile at them and try and spread love through some other way instead!,”'' Mahmoud said.

= <span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Organization =

<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mahmoud’s event
<ul style="margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;">
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Structure of the event:During City College of New York’s Welcome Back event, in front of the university’s main building, Mahmoud and several volunteers held “Free Hug” signs and wore beaming smiles as a way to brighten their fellow student's days.</li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Where:Mahmoud positioned himself on campus near where the welcome event was happening for his College. Can be done anywhere on campus, from one location or multiple depending on the amount of so-called ‘huggers’.</li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cost:For Mahmoud and team the cost was nominal, just the cost of purchasing two posters.  Mahmoud stressed that this event could be held for free. If you wanted something like t-shirts, you would need to pay attention to the jump in cost.</li>
</ul>

<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Scaling the program

<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One way to scale the program is asking those who receive free hugs to pass it on to others. So instead of having 2 agents giving out hugs, there are an increasing number of huggers, creating viral love on campus!

<div>[[File:Abrazosgratis5.png|frame|Abrazosgratis5.png]][[File:Abrazosgratis6.png|frame|Abrazosgratis6.png]] </div><div> </div><div>'''''Written by: [[Ale Contreras Westermeyer|Ale Contreras Westermeyer]], Nadia Fereydooni, Wim Kamerman,[http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/User:Ralamber  Robert Lambert], Connor McCormick, Eray Tufan.'''''</div><div> </div><div> </div><div><ul style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; display: inline; list-style: none none; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">
<li></li>
</ul>
</div>
[[Category:Guides]]

User:Ralamber

2017-09-10T15:44:44Z

Ralamber:

[[File:RobLambert1.jpg]]

Rob Lambert is a Sophomore at Michigan Technological University, planning on getting a major in Business Management, with minors in Psychology and Global Business. Since he was a kid, Rob has always enjoyed seeing what goes on behind the scenes, especially with very public activities. Because of this, he joined his high school robotics team to handle the business side of the team, which then inspired him to attend an engineering school for a business degree.

Rob is currently working towards becoming a fellow in fall, 2017, and cannot wait to start working on bringing innovation to his campus!

He is also an active brother of the co-ed service fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega. Through this, Rob tries to help others in whatever ways he can.

He has always been interested in challenging himself, working on whatever he can whenever he can.

User:Ralamber

2017-09-10T15:44:26Z

Ralamber:

[[File:RobLambert1.jpg]]Rob Lambert is a Sophomore at Michigan Technological University, planning on getting a major in Business Management, with minors in Psychology and Global Business. Since he was a kid, Rob has always enjoyed seeing what goes on behind the scenes, especially with very public activities. Because of this, he joined his high school robotics team to handle the business side of the team, which then inspired him to attend an engineering school for a business degree.

Rob is currently working towards becoming a fellow in fall, 2017, and cannot wait to start working on bringing innovation to his campus!

He is also an active brother of the co-ed service fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega. Through this, Rob tries to help others in whatever ways he can.

He has always been interested in challenging himself, working on whatever he can whenever he can.

File:RobLambert1.jpg

2017-09-10T15:39:05Z

Ralamber: