School:Binghamton University

Overview

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Binghamton University, primarily known for being a research-based institution, is a public university located in Vestal, New York. It is home to 13,632  undergraduate and 3,660 graduate students coming from a total of 44 states and 114 different countries. The university consists of 7 different schools including - but not limited to - Harpur College of Arts and Sciences, the Decker School of Nursing, the School of Management, etc. strongly pushing entrepreneurship. After years of development and planning, the infrastructure is in place to allow startups to thrive.  Student engagement with these resources is low, relatively speaking. Pushing more students towards the university’s infrastructure is a cornerstone to not only the office of innovation’s mission but also the office of the president. Being one of the most cost effective educations in the northeast is pushing more qualified students into the school but somehow they are not filtering into the entrepreneurship track as well as they could be.

Promoting student innovation and entrepreneurship

There are a robust set of programs and activities that revolve around entrepreneurship. Idea pitches are often regarded as a good stepping stone for students who want to get their feet wet. The cash prizes for the best performing ideas are just enough to get most teams into a prototyping phase. There are also a few well-respected courses in innovation and creativity that can further a student's education during a semester. There are also various events that reward innovative thinking around campus including several hackathons and a 3d printing lab.

Encouraging faculty innovation and entrepreneurship

The faculty at Binghamton University are more often than not encouraging when a student approaches them with an idea but they rarely initiate the conversation. Professors involved in the startup ecosystem are more willing to open a up a lecture with a story about a start-up in the news (Rent-the-runway was used recently for example) but that is much rarer. Staff are, especially, equipped to innovate themselves professors in the engineering school. The school has invested heavily in the lab equipment and up to date facilities which can allow professors to expand and hopefully commercialize their research.

Actively supporting the university tech transfer function

The office of innovation and entrepreneurship is formally named the inter-university technology transfer office and there are dedicated lawyers and administrators to help academics commercialize their technology. It is only recently that the office has begun to heavily invest in undergraduate entrepreneurship. They curate a “B-Innovative” student incubator in a building on campus which as had scores of startups move through it. It also runs another incubator in the Innovative Technologies Complex that houses undergraduate and non-student startups. The office of I&E often leave their doors open for students to walk in with questions about a particular resource or just life as an entrepreneur. 

Facilitating University-Industry Collaboration

The university is in the process of constructive a massive downtown innovation center that will host startups and laboratories. There are also several access points to serious funding but access to those sources are restricted. Take the NYS business plan competition. The winner receives a grant of half a million dollars but the competition is intense and no student from Binghamton has even gotten close to winning. There are ample events for networking but, as far as investors and capital goes, let's just say that most startups are forced to go lean for a long time.

Engaging With Regional and Local Economic Development Efforts

Most students on campus are not heavily involved with the surrounding community, as entreprenurship resources are underutilized. Additionally, there exists a "bubble" around the university; most students are unaware of the food desert and detriments of gentrification. Most citizens of Binghamton are driven out of their housing as a result of spiking rental rates, because students can afford to pay more. Despite these negative circumstances, there are gradual changes being made.

Many students are unaware of the economic situation of the surrounding area; additionally, they do not know how to engage with the surrounding community. Despite having several resources in which the community can be engaged, they are underutilized. Our Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Center for Civic Engagement, and others seek to connect the university to the surrounding area.

Our economic programs have grown substantially in the past few years; in June of 2017, the Koffman Southern Tier Incubator opened. This incubator was created with New York state funding in order to bolster the economic conditon of the state and several of the communities, many of which exist under the poverty line. The incubator seeks to collaborate with community organizations in order to promote commerce within the state. You can learn more about it here.

Related Links

Fellows (Spring 2017)

Judah Berger Profile: http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/Judah_Berger

David Axelrod Profile: http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/David_Axelrod

Mauricio Morales Profile: http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/Mauricio_Morales

Fellows (Spring 2018)

David Jacobson Profile: http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/User:DavidEJacobson

Hannah Werner Profile: http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/Hannah_Werner

Vivian Wu Profile: http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/Vivian_Wu

Shabienska Achil Profile: http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/Shabienska_Achil