Changes

Promoting student innovation and entrepreneurship is a foundation of Wichita State University’s curriculum and strategic plan. Wichita State holds Kansas’ only entrepreneurship major as well as an entrepreneurship minor for both business and non-business majors, a graduate certificate in entrepreneurship and innovation and an MBA with a focus on entrepreneurship. New Product & Technology Development and Growing & Managing an Entrepreneurial Firm are just a couple of the courses students can enroll in. In Spring 2016, WSU has expanded its degree opportunities by offering an a Master of Innovation Design Masters degree, which started Spring 2016. The schools Colleges of Fine Arts, Health SciencesProfessions, Business, Honors, and Engineering are offering courses that incorporate entrepreneurship into the foundations of their curriculum. The school College of Applied Studies now offers a course in Workplace Leadership, as well as a Bachelor's in Applied Studies which focus focuses on innovation in the workforce. 

Beyond academics, there are several programs encouraging entrepreneurship on campus. Every year students can compete in the Shocker New Venture Competition, where winning student groups are awarded startup capital to aid in the launch of their new venture. Other entrepreneurial competitions that happen yearly include the Koch Innovation Challenge, Shocker Innovation Corps, and Invent for the Planet. Students also attend inspirational and informational speaker series focused on entrepreneurship, innovation, and design, such as the Business Booster Series, Shocker Startup Impact, LaunchPrep, and Lunch and Learn.

The Wichita State campus is expanding to reflect the innovation and entrepreneurship demands of the economy. In spring of 2017, a new makerspacenamed GoCreate, located in the Experiential Engineering BuildingJohn Bardo Center, opened to cater to innovative Wichita State students from all majors and backgrounds. The WSU makerspace has the GoCreate's purpose to be a special place where people can meet, collaborate and make things happen – it is part manufacturing plant, part design studio and part garage workshop. It’s a place where creative people of all ages and skill levels have access to sophisticated equipment and training, shared work spaces and a supportive community. 

Some of the companies and organizations that have already partnered with WSU include Airbus, NetApp, Applied Technology Acceleration Institute, National Institute of Aviation Research (NIAR), Tech Mahindra, iTalent Corp, Youth Entrepreneurs, ABI Group, Koch Industries, Inc., Hexagon, Deloite, and othersFirepoint. Airbus, for example, has relocated their engineering center in downtown Wichita to the new Innovation Campus. Airbus’ presence on campus allows them to access research, testing labs, student employees, and faculty expertise quickly and easily. With NIAR already present on the campus, Airbus relocating to the new WSU campus will add to the research centers provided to students. Another example is Firepoint, an innovation company that employs students of varying disciplines to accelerate strategic projects for industry partners. Recently, Firepoint partnered with the Army to host a challenge offering a combined $35,000 in funding to design a new drone.   

Campus outreach with specific industries is very strong. Some of the industries represented more than others are aerospace, manufacturing, and education. In aerospace, the university engages in a mass amount of research for advanced materials, coatings, and general controls design. Wichita hosts the number one industry funded Aerospace research firm in the nation named NIAR (National Institute for Aviation Research). In manufacturing, the university has many researchers who specialize in advanced manufacturing and prototyping with most of these resources being used for Aerospace research. WSU also has many connections with Koch Industries, allowing business students and some engineering students, to find connections and pursue careers. In education, the department reaches out to the schools in Wichita's community to create better teachers and facilities. Unfortunately not all of the industries are represented in the university's outreach, but there is room for improvement.