Priorities:Georgia Institute of Technology Student Priorities

Georgia Tech Student Vision 

 We believe GT students can change the world. Our campus offers many resources, and even better faculty, to help innovation and creativity on campus. We need to connect the GT community by creating an umbrella organization to help students flow toward these resources on campus, and create channels for student-faculty relationships. 

University Innovation Council

Despite the many great resources Georgia Tech currently has, the innovation and entrepreneurial movement, which is currently overtaking the nation, has been stalled on our campus due to lack of organization.

Students are unsure of, and mostly unaware of, the opportunities available to them beyond big-name resources such as the Invention Studio or the inVenture Prize competition.

Organizations are struggling to grow, hold large events, or simply stay operational, because of a lack of assisted communication and constant overlap.

Professors are additionally wasting large amounts of time trying to connect with students, due to a lack of protocol and standardized connection.

Our program will exist to foster a passion and create sustainability for innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) among all members of the Georgia Tech community.

The University Innovation Council will support three main areas: the student body, current campus organizations, and faculty/administration. This will improve the community by: eliminating overlap, bringing students of all backgrounds and ages together, and encouraging administrative involvement. This will be done in the following ways:

1. For Student Members of the Georgia Tech Community
   • Provide access to an umbrella calendar of I&E events
   • Connect individual student interests to the I&E movement with others in the Georgia Tech community
   • Formulate methods to encourage innovation at Tech
   • Provide updates and other opportunities on a regular basis
2. For I&E Campus Organizations
   • Host Forums
   • Connect I&E organizations
   • Provide consulting advice, support, and membership numbers
   • Provide a yearly I&E wheel featuring individual organizations
3. For the Administration
   • Dissolve the communication barrier between students, organisations, and the administration
   • Form strategic partnerships with supporters of entrepreneurship
   • Provide ‘voice’ of I&E for consulting
   • Create a mentoring program for faculty to get involved in; help students develop ideas and turn them into a reality

Additionally, please refer to our Campus Landscape Canvas for both on-campus and off-campus resources, as well as local Atlanta-based resources.

This Campus Landscape Canvas illustrates all the resources on Georgia Tech’s campus for undergraduates, graduates, organizations, and faculty through perceived, potential, applied, realized, reframing, and institutional resources.Through this map, we are able to fully maximize student, faculty, undergraduate, and graduate student interactions and improve the map for the future, based on our knowledge of the current environment.

Student-Faculty Relations

Through the University Innovation Council, student-faculty interaction will be facilitated in three main ways:

1. Students interested in getting involved in the I&E movement will be connect with a professor directly based on their idea, needs, and goals. This introduction will save valuable time for the student by removing the searching process. This will also save time for the professor by introduction them to a student who is serious about their work and eager to network.
2. Faculty will be able to directly interact and engage with movements on campus that organizations and students are working on. Instead of having to be directed by several groups of people, they will know all I&E related movements are being directed by the University Innovation Council hub.
3. Resource for both students and faculty will be maximized due to the lack of overlap. The process of starting and I&E movement will be able to be streamlined through our organization.

Wide Net Impact

By creating a centralized hub, the University Innovation Council will be able to run all I&E movements that Georgia Tech is starting. Our organization is one that will exist for the betterment of the University; Not just one major, one club, or even one type of student.

Many undergraduate students are being inspired to create projects and invent in their classes and many graduate students are being encouraged to turn their research and theses into entrepreneurial companies. This would really help graduate students network with undergraduates to easily allocate research positions, internships, and special projects as well as vise versa. It is a much more desirable way for them to see what students are passionate about instead of just going off of resumes and shallow connections.

Again, by providing an overarching umbrella, students will be able to focus on their ideas and goals rather than finding the resources. The unique characteristic about I&E is that its not limited to undergraduate or graduate students.   

Sustainable Impact

By providing a council and infrastructure for I&E to operate under, new students will not have to worry about finding resources or connections (because they will already be provided). They will be able to just focus on the movement and their ideas, goals, and design processes. It will make the entrepreneurial experience less of a trial and error process and more success stories will come out of the Georgia Tech entrepreneurial landscape. In addition, it will create a foundation on campus for other I&E movements to be built off of.

Through the University Innovation Council students and faculty will be able to grow I&E on campus together and facilitates movements going forward together. This means that they will become more reliant and trusting of each other. If both students and faculty are invested in the same issue and working together to make change, Georgia Tech's campus landscape in I&E will continue to grow going forward which will only perpetuate the success of the I&E campus.

Funds Needed

This budget is based off a $10,000 fund.

1. $500 - Organizing Umbrella Reaching Out
2. $2500 - Connect with Purpose
3. $2000 - I&E for Dummies
4. $5000 - GT Innovation Month

Timeline

GT Innovation Month

We hope to structure GT Innovation Month similarly to NYU UIF Terrence did for his school. We aim to showcase unique I&E entities across campus and off-campus in the Atlanta area by holding programs in their respective spaces. This will increase awareness of I&E, gain students for the campus movement, and allow the I&E community at GT to be strengthened and centralized.

Related Links

Georgia Tech

Megna Saha

Alex Flohr

Rachel Ford