Priorities:University of Maryland College Park Student Priorities

UMD logo.jpeg

The UMD Manifesto

INTRO GOES HERE: It starts with the students. How might we create this “culture” of innovation and entrepreneurship?

1. Make it about passion, not start-ups.

Starting a venture is a result of an entrepreneur having the passion and initiative to create something out of nothing. The key to having people start companies is not having the push to start them, but to have passionate people pursue their interest and starting a company may just be an outlet for that passion.

2. Make it accessible to all majors, all backgrounds, etc.

It is imperative to make I&E initiatives as completely interdisciplinary as possible. While traditionally resources are directed to business or engineering students, there is a great sacrifice is the exclusion of other majors. The true breadth of innovation can never be known unless the resources and mentorship is available for people from backgrounds as diverse as their ideas.

3. Make I&E sexy.

Something we noticed from comparing I&E programs and taking a more comprehensive at the Stanford d.school innovation programs, we noticed the true feat in getting students into I&E is getting them excited about it. In a world of quick fads with increasingly greater focus on aesthetics, in order for a movement to catch on, it must be appealing in a greater sense. There has to be a brand. People want to follow, join, and create the movement. We don’t want to have to build the entire movement on campus, we want to empower others to create their own. In order to do this, we we need to I&E appealing to college students. At the moment we are thinking of accomplishing this task through creativity and spontaneity. Students will follow something new and different. We will create videos documenting college entrepreneurs, Fearless ideas courses and other resources on campus. If you can live it through your computer, you will be more likely to be a part of it in real life.

4. Make it real-world.

Too often students fall prey, as we all do, to going through the motions of life. School, class, and most importantly learning may be routine for many students. There are certain checkboxes you have to check off to get to the next step. In order to combat this redundant feeling when doing schoolwork, we need to have real world applications of the lessons learned in the classroom. When students see what they’re doing in class can actually be applied to something in order to create a real-world effect, they will be able to change the way they think about education. Instead of having class be about passing tests, it can be about learning skills and tools to help take on the world at large.

5. Make it student-driven.

Idea--Internship program with other students’ start-ups

Students must drive the movement. Without having the target market at the center of the programs and initiatives created, we will run the risk of having misplaced resources which would be worse because the people putting the initiatives on would be seen as disconnected.

6. Make it clear why this is important. Why do people want I&E to be as big as it is? Why should students care?

-Create history of innovation at Maryland

-Track the pulse of the movement dating back to Kevin Planck, Oculus, and Google

We need to value all entrepreneurs

-Family tree

Why is there a push for I&E at UMD? There must be a clear dialogue between the university and students. Clarifying intentions will allow people to be more open to the idea and make it their own.

7. Make it fun! (But seriously, make it fun)

(put stuff here)

How to make UMD I&E:

2. Accessible to all.

Tactic #1: Design “Tent”

ACTIVATING CREATIVITY AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP THROUGH DESIGN 

Design Tent events are a chance for students to come together to “play under the same tent” and exchange ideas. Through collaboration that is dynamic, active, and fun, these events aim to generate new interests, raise awareness and energize participants to cross-pollinate ideas. The focus of the January 2014 Design Tent was to re-think our perception of garbage and use materials from local waste streams to design and build prototypes to test entrepreneurial ideas. The value of waste was repurposed into both a process and product that brought together (STEAM) students and exposed them to the innovation process through iterative making and fabrication.  

Team Leader(s):

• • Valerie Sherry and Natalya Dikanov with the help of mDIL and Linear Gallery members

Open Positions:

• • Contact design.impact.lab@gmail.com if interested in helping to sponsor, coordinate or participate in next Design tent event!

Milestones:

• • The first Design Tent event was co-hosted by [mDIL] Maryland Design Impact Lab and the Linear Gallery
  • The event was held as a two-day workshop January 22-23, 2014
  • Visiting Professionals and Facilitators included International firm, REFUNC and local firm Salvaging Creativity
  • Participants included: 50+ students
  • Disciplines involved: Over 16 different disciplines
  • A tremendous thank you to our Event Sponsors: Academy of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Maryland School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, the Architecture Department, The Kibel Gallery
  • A stopmotion video of some of the event work can be seen at the following link:
  • This first Design Tent and REFUNC Workshop was also featured in a student curated Linear Gallery exhibition called Transforming Waste

​Upcoming Events:

• Next Design Tent will be co hosted by the [mDIL] Maryland Design Impact Lab, Rawlings Undergraduate Leadership Program and Books Breaking Borders Innovation Team. 
• INTERDISCIPLINARY PLAY THROUGH MAKING.

Resource Synopsis

• Institutional Look: The University of Maryland, College Park has a wealth of Innovation and Entrepreneurship resources for students and faculty. The University promotes I&E on campus primarily through course and program offerings in the Smith School of Business, the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, M.TECH within the Clark School of Engineering and most recently with the launch of the Academy of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. 
• Lifestyle Look: Living Learning Communities offer University of Maryland undergraduates the opportunity to live and surround themselves with academically like-minded faculty and students.
• Regional Look: University of Maryland, College Park is a regional force for innovation. Our proximity to federal agencies and the nation’s capital allow for strategic partnerships to be formed and high level facilities to be accessible for research and incubation purposes. If you have a start up or a venture and you are in need of funding, tech transfer, high level incubation space or business mentors, the University can bolster your process through its resources, partnerships and connection to the region.
• Current Gaps: A gap exists in the access for students of all disciplines to apply their skills as entrepreneurs and innovators regardless of whether they come from STEM backgrounds. We hope to increase the cross pollination of ideas and expertise from different disciplines and to empower all students to be innovators.
• The UMD future: the TIME IS NOW. Let’s get started on building a better I&E Ecosystem at the University of Maryland.
• Student Charge: Use the resources at hand or create the ones that don’t exist. Be a part of this movement and let the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship ignite inspiration in you as your ideas collide with others at the university to create change!

 Tactic #2: TEDx Talks

• What better way to raise awareness among students that they, too, can be involved with I & E than by INSPIRING! “Ideas worth spreading”
• Team Leader:: Open Position – Team Leader TBD
• Milestones:
  •  

Tactic #3: Faculty Workshop Weekend

• The purpose of this faculty workshop is to promote and instill the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation in the classroom. The goal is that their inspiration filters down to students!
• Team Leader:: Open Position – Team Leader TBD
• Milestones:

Strategy #2: Create the Platform for Applied Learning & ACTION

Following are an array of strategies that will fully address Gap #2 over a 2-3 year period:

Tactic #1: maryland Design Impact Lab (mDIL)

Maryland Design Impact Lab [mDIL] is a cross-disciplinary collaborative focused on leveraging the diverse expertise of students and using design-thinking methods to create social change at multiple scales. This student led organization was founded in Fall 2013 and hosted the first “Design Tent” in January 2014. Moving forward, mDIL will host Design Tents throughout each semester at the University of Maryland, College Park. 

School is a time to test, create, experiment and take initiative. [mDIL] attracts students interested in social change facilitated by designing, making, building, prototyping, and entrepreneurship. The organization strives for an environment that fosters creative thinking through design and is open to undergraduate and graduate students from all disciplines and years ranging from freshman to Doctoral candidates. 

• Who can qualify for membership: ANY University of Maryland student.
• Member candidate qualities: Commitment, curiosity, and critical thinking! It is not only exciting to be activated, as students, to generate ideas, now you have a chance to put those ideas into action, to implement and thereby create impact by following through with an idea.
• Team Leader: Valerie Sherry
• Contact Information: [[Vsherry@umd.edu]] or design.impact.lab@gmail.com
• Milestones:
  • Constition and bylaws written to register as a university organization
  • Recruit members from across the university
  • Recruitment through table and prototyping in Stamp Student Union (3d printed giveaways)
  • Recruitment through faculty and student leaders in each school/discipline
  • Recruitment through Design Tent Workshop Weekend **Assemble a Faculty Advisory team, "The Faculty Force" from (varied disciplines)
  • Arrange permission to use a space or group of spaces for meetings or fabrication
  • Hold a first meeting
  • Launch via hack-a-thon or brainstorming session
  • Second Meeting, Use OpenIDEO program for starting prompts
  • Write grant(s) for resources
  • Seek out local partnerships to aid communities

Tactic #2: Winter Term Interdisciplinary EdxIE Applied Course (Engineering, Design Thinking x Innovation Entrepreneurship)

• This program is meant to spark interest amongst students who may not feel they have the time to “be involved” with entrepreneurship and design thinking during their regular semester. It is also for students wishing to gain a design thinking and entrepreneurial mindset and skillset through applied learning. The structure of the 15 day course would be oriented towards design idea incubation, prototyping or fabrication and pitching your idea to external critics.
• Team Leader: Open Position – Team Leader TBD
• Milestones:
  • Interview participants in programs similar to this at other schools
  • Research Applied Design thinking curriculums & similar programs
  • Reach out to faculty and administration regarding eligibility for “credit” or “certificate” status for the course
  • If course is not eligible for credit, seek funding to support a trial run of the program otherwise create budget for operating cost of the program vs. profit from target participants
  • Develop Curriculum & professional aids
  • Raise awareness among students

Tactic #3: Space Finder/Creater

• Maker spaces should and could be available for ALL students! Think of the invention and spark that could happen if we as students knew physical spaces where we could go to test our new ideas. This program leverages existing resources and spaces and would provide assistance for finding or making physical space for new startups. Students would be able to search through an online platform and mobile app that connects individual students and student groups with available immediate, temporary, short and long-term spaces. The program and task team would have documented a network of spaces on campus and their availability, which could be seen through a map interface on the system. If no space exists, students can contact mDIL (Maryland Design Impact Lab) and request a task team to design a temporary flex-space. This method would thereby provide a need and direction for students looking for innovation space that may not be part of an existing start up, or part of the Engineering or business school. In addition, this service will also give mDIL interdisciplinary design teams the opportunity to practice applying their developing ideation, fabrication and implementation skillsets to address a need.
• Team Leader: Open Position – Team Leader TBD
• Milestones:
  • Reach out to University leaders to form a faculty advisory team for this effort
  • Create strategic plan for implementation
  • Map and categorize existing resources as well as potential physical spaces on campus
  • Tie resource data to website and mobile app interface
  • Raise Awareness among student body about the tool and its inclusivity!
  • Task mDIL with a temporary (flex) innovation space to show potential
  • LAUNCH!

Overview of University of Maryland, College Park Campus Ecosystem

Other

The future is bright for the University of Maryland as a leader in Technology, Entrepreneurship, Design and Innovation. Be a catalyst for this movement and push it forward. Maximize your use of the resources available at your university today and create the resources that it lacks!

For questions, comments or suggestions, please contact at valeriesherry3@gmail.com.

Impact

Related Links

Valerie Sherry

Atin Mittra

University of Maryland College Park