Priorities:MTU University Student Priorities

Overview

Michigan Tech’s campus is poised to be a model for student innovation and entrepreneurship. The State of Michigan has recognized the Houghton / Hancock area as a hotbed of innovation, and efforts to connect the School of Business and the School of Engineering are creating new business opportunities daily.

The problem isn’t ideas. It rarely ever is. Uniquely, Michigan Tech doesn’t suffer from a talent gap. Michigan Tech’s engineers are recruited around the globe for their hands on experience and industry focused education.

We’ll include a story to summarize the problem at Michigan Tech.  One day in early April a VC from Silicon Valley came to Michigan Tech to do due diligence on a new technology being developed in 3D printing. The VC gave a speech and discussed her time at Stanford. She said: “I never thought about being involved in venture capital, but when I got to school everyone was talking about starting a business and I felt like I needed to get plugged into that ecosystem.” Michigan Tech lacks that passion, enthusiasm, and culture. These three strategies are designed to remedy that challenge.

A new center for innovation and entrepreneurship is the proposed solution. It uses new academic opportunities, event programming, and startup support to drive a culture shift towards innovation and entrepreneurship.

Strategy One: Command the Dialogue 

Overview: As mentioned above the culture at Michigan Tech rarely centers on new inventions and entrepreneurship. MUBX is designed to change this through a series of comprehensive programming opportunities, outlined below.

MUBX derives its name from our student programing board: the Memorial Union Board (MUB Board). MUB Board has an extensive network and brand recognition on campus. This new committee (MUBX) will have access to the programming experience, financial resources, and advisory support that are afforded to our student union. 

TEDx 

Last year (2012-2013) Michigan Tech held their first ever TEDx. Only 100 tickets were available and at $10 apiece they sold out within minutes of going on sale. The event’s reach was limited, but provided a breath of energy to the campus. It got people talking.

MUBX wants to work with the University to send a delegate (advisor) to the TEDx conference in order to increase the ability of the conference to students across the university.