School:Temple University

Promoting student innovation and entrepreneurship

Campus Overview

Temple University is located within Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Temple offers more than 400 degree programs at 17 schools and colleges and five professional schools. Philadelphia is an excellent environment for entrepreneurs, and there exists a large number of resources for those interested in entrepreneurship and innovation on Temple’s main campus. Temple has at least three different colleges with the capability of driving innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) within the University.  These colleges include Temple’s Fox School of Business, Tyler School of Art and College of Engineering.  Beyond these colleges temple encompasses a large variety of resources and clubs dedicated to promoting success in I&E.  This resources include but are not limited to:

• Digital Scholar Center
  • Makerspace in the basement of Paley Library
• Entrepreneurial Students Association (ESA)
• Venture Finance Club
• Innovate and Create Living Learning Community
• Temple Women’s Entrepreneurship Organization
• Medical Entrepreneurship Design and Innovation Collaborative (MEDIC)
• TEDx Events
• The Center for Design+Innovation (cD+i)
• Leadership, Education, and Development in Science (LEADS)
• Owl Fund Seminar I & II  courses
  • Students manage real financial stocks
• Center for International Business Education and Research

Fox School of Business

Within the Fox School of Business there is a subdivision called the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute (IEI).  The IEI’s main focus is on the entrepreneur side of the I&E ecosystem.  The institute allows classes on develop of business plans and strategies and an innovation lab for physically constructing models and pitch ideas. The IEI regularly holds competitions such as The Innovative Idea Competitions and Be Your Own Boss Bowl which are open to all Temple students and encourages innovative thinking across the entire campus.

Tyler School of Art

Tyler school of Art is dedicated to helping students learn skills that will enrich their lives.  The school offers over 200 classes that teach various skills and are open to all temple students. The school’s main focus is to expand the student’s capacity for creativity while teaching new skills. Within Tyler there are several learning studios where students can learn to produce professional grade products. These studios include the Digital Fabrication Studio, graphic and interactive designs studio, a metals studio and many more.  Tyler also has their own store within the school, called the Hatchery, where students can sell the products that they have created. This gives temple students the opportunity to discover the market value of their products.

College of Engineering

Temple’s College of Engineering is dedicated to driving innovation and entrepreneurship in each engineering student. In the very first day of Intro to Engineering the students are given a comprehensive introduction to the design thinking process.  The college stresses the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration between engineering students and other colleges. They have partnered with the Fox School of Business and have created several collaborative engineering and management course. Temple College of Engineering offers many opportunities for all temple students to discover, learn about and experiment with their latent I&E skills.  These opportunities include a wet labs, 3-D printing labs, a digital fabrication studio, machine shops and various competitions.

Encouraging faculty innovation and entrepreneurship

Temple faculty members have a wide range of skills and assets that make them invaluable to the innovation and entrepreneurial programs at Temple University. Temple is known as a large research university, where some faculty members are hired for the sole purpose of expanding their projects, but more commonly, they are brought to Temple to both teach and research. As a result, Temple supports its faculty members in offering students research opportunities as well as many programs and organizations with a focus on innovation and entrepreneurship.  

• The undergraduate research program and the diamond scholars program pays students to assist faculty in their research efforts. https://cst.temple.edu/research/undergraduate-research, http://www.temple.edu/vpus/opportunities/researchscholars.htm

• There are many different types of research projects across campus, for example, the engineering building has a wide range of opportunities.  https://engineering.temple.edu/research/faculty-research
• Temple mandates that faculty members mentor students in the  senior design class to work together and build something new and necessary. https://engineering.temple.edu/departments-programs/senior-design-projects
• Many innovation and entrepreneurial organizations are overseen by faculty members. For example, ESA, Entrepreneurial Student Association. http://d3iovmfe1okdrz.cloudfront.net/cms/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/0803415_ESA_Flyer_v33-1-1.pdf
• Neil D. Theobald, President of Temple University, advocates 6 commitments, and one of those commitments is the “Entrepreneurship Across Disciplines.” https://president.temple.edu/six-commitments/entrepreneurship-across-disciplines
• The Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning helps faculty transform their classrooms http://www.fox.temple.edu/cms_research/institutes-and-centers/center-for-innovation-in-teaching-and-learning/

Facilitating University-Industry Collaboration

Temple has many research centers for its students from Grants Management, Research Compliance, Innovation, Electronic Research Administration, to Research accounting services. Temple also connects its students with more than 40 different employers through Temple Career fairs at least twice a year.Temple provides Mid Atlantic Diamond Club which utilizes coaching sessions to prepare qualified companies for investments, helps ensure that investment materials are comprehensible, defensible and compelling. Entrepreneurs that have successfully completed these coaching sessions are invited to present their company at our quarterly venture forums. At these events, entrepreneurs engage one-on-one with potential investors. Fox School of business has a program called Corporate Engagement to connect students with a variety of intelligent inspiring business professionals throughout the academic year. Temple has an Owl to Owl mentoring program which builds professional networks with students and enhance professional and communication skills.

Other resources:

• Alumni Association.
• Graduate Student Entrepreneurship Club.
• Mentoring for Life (Kornberg school of Dentistry)

Engaging with regional and local economic development efforts

Temple University has several resources available for regional and local economic development. Community service efforts including the Pan-African Studies Community Education Program help Temple reach the local community by providing free GED track courses, computer workforce and basic literacy training. In addition, the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) provides consulting and educational programs to small companies in Southeastern Pennsylvania.  The SBDC also offers an Incubator Program that serves minority groups and female entrepreneurs.

• Blackstone
• Startup PHL
• Robin Hood Ventures

Related Links

Temple University

Temple University Student Priorities

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