School:University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

Introduction

The University of Minnesotais a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN. It is the oldest and largest campus within the University of Minnesota System and has the sixth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 51,853 students in 2012-2013, and is broadly organized into 19 colleges and schools.

Student Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship Centers

The Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship is the deparment home of the Entrepreneurship Major and Minor. It houses a faculty-led, student-driven, business hatchery and hosts/sponsors numerous clubs, events, and programs within the Carlson School of Management. It has supported the development of dozens of student start-ups in the last few years.

Courses

Science & Engineering: The University of Minnesota is home to some of the most profound science and engineering research professors in the country and the vast majority incorperate opportunities for student research into upper-level and graduate-level engineering and science coursework. Although these may not have a direct relation to entrepreneurship, they foster an innovative mindset amongst the students that participate, and this may eventually lead to entrepreneurial or intrepreneurial ventures in the future.

Entrepreneurial Management: While the Carlson School of Management is largely focused on preparing students to work in corporate environments, many successful start-ups have come out of the program. In turn, the school has invested in a centralized Entrepreneurship curriculum that exposes students to innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) thinking in addition to their traditional business-related courswork. This curriculum covers the breadth of I&E theory with an emphasis on applicability in the upper level classes. The capstone course, Entrepreneurship In Action, provides students with capital to test and start their own venture. At the end of the course, students pitch their fledgling businesses to community investors.

Management of Technology: The Technological Leadership Institute at the University of Minnesota has developed both a graduate program, and an undergraduate minor program called MOT or Management of Technology. This course curriculum focus on the escence of entrepreneurship in vastly technical industries, and the managerial skills needed to bring an invention to market. Coursework such as Financial Management for Technology-Based Organizations, Developing New Technology-Products, and Technology Foresight and Forecasting put a highly technical spin on the classic business and entrepreneurship couses offered throught the Carlson School of Management.

Social Applied Entrepreneurship (ACARA):  As Minnesota's sole Land-grant University, the University of Minnesota is called to focus resources toward the solving some of society's pressing problems. ACARA is a unique way to create venture solutions for these issues both in the US and abroad. Housed in the Institute for the Environment, the program is structured around a full series of classes accross a variety of subjects including science, business, and design. The program's objective is to develop solutions that are innovative, scalable, and impactful. The work of students culminates in at the ACARA Challenge, where the most promising venture solutions compete for recongnition and support to carry their venture forward.

Competitions

BizPitch: Each Spring, the Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship hosts a business pitch competition for the most promising University of Minnesota's student ideas. In 2014, over 60 students applied with business concepts ranging from local hops farms to customizable refrigerator magnets. They are first tested through a lengthly application process, and then tried with a 90 second business pitch in front of an auditorium filled with local attourneys, businessmen, potential investors, and other aspiring students. The winner recieves a $1000 check from the Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship to help with startup-funding, as well as networking connections from across the state.

The Launch Pad: Recently started by the University of Minnesota Co-Lab idea incubator, Launch Pad is a forum through which students pitch their business ideas to a more focused and  specialized group of panelists from the University and beyond. Modeled after the show Shark Tank, events are held on the first and third friday of each month. Each show has two student ventures. Each is given 6 minutes to disucss their business and their obstacles. Pitches are followed by a respective 20 minutes of constructive conversation. The audience is welcome to approach the presenters afterward with additional opportunities and resources.

Campus Innovation Contest: Sponsored by the University of Minnesota Co-Lab idea incubator, these contests are an opportunity to source student input and ideas to solve pressing issues at the University. The contest started in the Spring of 2014. Security had been a growing issue at the University. The original contest revolved  around  reducing crime on campus. Leveraging an idea submission and voting platform, students published their ideas. The most highly regarded solutions presented at a showcase in front of University officials. Winners received prize money and all finalists received services from Co-Lab. Such contests are planned to continue one during each semester. For the fall of 2014, the contest is championing Operation Excellence to help the school make its processes more efficient and save money.

Minnesota Cup: This is Minnesota's largest and most prestigious business plan contest. Over the last 10 years, the Cup has given away more that $1,000,000 to dozens of businesses. In 2014 alone, more than 1,200 applicants competed in 7 catagories, including catagories  for social and student ventures. While not exclusively a University function, the Carlson School of Management was one of the founding sponsors and continues to offer its services and resources to applicants. Interestingly enough, 37% of all applicants had an University of Minnesota affiliation. Since it's founding, Cup finalists have went on to raise more than $160 million in capital and a handful have been acquired.

Hackathon: The University of Minnesota has a thriving Computer Science and Computer Engineering community, and with that come student, as well as faculty and 3rd party, organized hackathons. These events take place most commonly over the weekends in the winter months, and focus on bringing an innovative or entrepreneurial atmosphere to a very technical study. Participants are presented with a real-world problem that can be solved through unique software developements. One such example is the University's 'Visualizing Neighborhoods' hackathon through the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs. The 'hackers' worked on developing software that would more effectively monitor and optimize urban bus routes for inner-city primary and secondary schools. The resulting software was implemented and is in use in Minneapolis today.

Innovation and Maker Spaces

DigiFabLab: Within the College of Design's Rapson Hall lies the state-of-the-art prototyping facility which carries the lengthly name 'The Digital Fabrication Laboratory,' shortened to DigiFabLab by it's unique flavor of staff and students. It is a makerspace available only to academic-based projects to which College of Design students have priority. It contains two Stratasys industrial-grade 3D printers, as well as self-serve laser-cutting machines and CNC laithes. It is staffed during regular office hours by a talented full-time technitian. It's main purpose is to assist design students with any design projects that they may come across in their coursework.

Rapson Hall: Second only to the design lab and workshops that lie within it, one of the most vibrant innovation communities at the University of Minnesota exists in the College of Design's Rapson Hall. On any given day, anywhere from a dozen to a hundred bustling design students can be found in it's main atrium. They use the vast space as a staging area for design projects of all shapes and sizes. The hall is often outfitted for presentations or design shows in which students present their capstone projects, and innovative group collaboration is the norm. However, when it comes to student I&E, Rapson Hall lacks the atmosphere of industry applicability as most of the projects are course specific, and not necessarily related to problems found in the real world.

Co-Lab: A student-led idea incubator founded last year through the Entrepreneurship Program's Enrepreneurship In Action capstone. Co-Lab has a dedicated staff of student Fellows who provide services ranging from website design, to graphics, to strategy, and accounting. In addition to helping students develop, start, and scale projects/businesses, Co-Lab sponsors numerous events, such as the Launch Pad and the Campus Innovation Contests,  to promote innovative thinking amongst students.