School:Tennessee Technological University
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Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Tennessee Technological University is an upbeat campus filled with students who are interested in making the world a better place in their own form and fashion. For those interested in innovation and entrepreneurship, there are numerous on-campus resources.
Venues available to like-minded students for interaction and creation include the business and engineering living-learning villages, countless student organizations which foster I&E mindsets, and the new iCube/iMakerspace located on the third floor of the Volpe Library. These new additions open to all Tech students provide a virtual reality room, 3-D printers, and lots of lab space. The iCube and iMakerspace truly enable students to bring their dreams to life as they take shape and evolve through hands-on design and experimentation.
This innovative spirit is strengthened within the business and engineering curricula through courses focusing on real world applications. Courses show students how work with theoretical models of their designs and develop economic and marketing strategies for the venture. Some of these courses include CHE 4410 Process Design, CHE 4661 Transport in Biochemical and Biological Processes, and BMGT 4930 Business Strategy. MKT 4900 provides students interested in I&E with the opportunity to participate in innovative activities through experiential learning as taught by local entrepreneurs. Additionally, this course prepares students for the campus wide Eagle Works business pitch competition held every spring.
The newest I&E course piloted Fall 2015, Clinical Immersion at Interdisciplinary Interfaces, is a course which synergizes the minds of nursing and chemical engineering students to develop solutions for health care innovation. Over the semester, students explore the local hospital and interview health care providers to identify problems and develop solutions which fit the needs expressed through these experiences. At the end of the course, each team composed of nursing and chemical engineering students present their projects and prototypes to a pannel of faculty and I&E professionals from the community.
Interest is also found at events like Tedx Nashville and E-Week. Tedx Nashville is a yearly event recently supported by the Dean’s Office, which promotes student attendance by purchasing student tickets. E-week is a national event in which many universities participate. During the event, various engineering majors are brought together and pitted against each other in competitions.Even if you are not a business or engineering major, there is still plenty to take part in, such as the recent Research, Innovation & Entrepreneurship Forum where speakers from the NSF gave talks to faculty and students regarding I&E.
Faculty Innovation and Entrepreneurship
The faculty at Tech are extremely involved with real world innovation. Many professors currently perform research which they plan to develop into a product in the future, and others have already started companies through their research.
Along with this environment of start-ups, there is a movement forming which promotes innovation directly. With the help of VentureWell, faculty members were able to attend a workshop in the month of February 2014. They received similar training to that which the University Innovation Fellows receive but on a higher level.
This same group of faculty is also pushing to create a new major on campus. Something which would combine aspects of the business and engineering curricula to create an area of study for students interested in entrepreneurship.
University Technology Transfer Function
The Biz Foundry is a local business accelerator in Upper Cumberland Tennessee, partnered with Launch Tennessee. They are focused on building a startup community that nurtures local talent, innovation, and entrepreneurs in order to create a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem. The accelerator program pairs startups with mentors and investors in order to help with the business model.
The Biz Foundry is found right off campus. It’s a place for students and faculty to go for any questions related to start-up ventures. To aid in these start-up ventures the Biz Foundry holds 24 Launch events for students to bring their ideas to the next level of development.
TN Tech also has a Small Business Development Center for students to go and improve on their innovative ideas. It works as a sort of pre-meeting area before you go and seek more help. They also provide internships to students that allows them to work with local businesses. The Small Business Development Center hosts business seminars covering a wide range of topics dealing with innovation and entrepreneurship.
University-Industry Collaboration
At TN Tech the same faculty that have attended VentureWell workshops are now pushing the development of a Innovation and Discovery Center. This will be a space for students from every major to come and work. It will serve as a meeting ground and possibly center for entrepreneurship related clubs and industry leaders interested in the research being held on campus
Also with the aid of grants such as NSFs I-core the amount of research on campus is expected to grow over the next few years. More and more faculty are partnering with industry to turn their research into a marketable product.
Thanks to these grants, the Innovation and Discovery Center, and help from places like the Biz Foundry local Businesses from near-by cities of Nashville and Knoxville now have a place to go to discuss the research happening at TN Tech
Regional and Local Economic Development Efforts
TN Tech is located in Cookeville. The campus itself is one of the biggest aspects of the town and one of the biggest economic factors. Besides the fact that huge amounts of money come from students that buy things from the local businesses, there is also a lot of community service that takes place.
Events like Relay for Life bring in tens of thousands of dollars for cancer research every spring. Campus wide clean ups keep the university clean and roadside clean ups mostly from Greek life organizations keep the city clean.
Due to Cookeville being in the center of 3 major cities (Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga) it is often a meeting ground for innovation. Much work is done between these 4 cities in terms of bringing in Businesses from across the country to Tennessee.
Landscape Canvas
Click here to see Tennessee Tech University's Lanscape Canvas:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18QcxC1oQ4HCPaqHy9nCkWtqF0y1hStNHjX6W1xgyZWI/edit#gid=0