School:Ohio University

Ohio University

Established in 1804, Ohio University is a public university located in Athens, Ohio. The campus is home to nearly 23,000 undergraduate, graduate, and medical students. The university is ranked number one nationally in overall student satisfaction. In 2015, the Center for World University Ratings ranked Ohio University in the top 3% of high education institutions globally and has received a Carnegie Classification for high activity research universities.  

Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Throughout the University students are encouraged to embrace innovation and entrepreneurship through courses, extracurricular clubs, competitions, and other specialized programs. Students will encounter principles of innovation and entrepreneurship through many facets at Ohio University.

AcademicPathways:

• Entrepreneurship Major:
• Entrepreneurship Certificate: Gradute with real world experiences that students gain through taking a variety of classes across different colleges. 

Classes/Course Programs:

• Designing to Make a Difference:
• Business Cluster:
• The Bobcat Launchpad: The Bobcat Launchpad will provide real-world, hands-on learning on what it's like to actually start a company.
• Numerous classes that incorporate innovation and entrepreneurship into their curriculum (i.e. Business in Aviation, Entrepreneurial Sales, Legal Aspects of Entrepreneurship)

Student Organizations

• Ohio University Entrepreneurs: As an Ohio University Entrepreneurs, students are taught the skills to become leaders and entrepreneurs through networking, guest speakers, and workshops. Members are exposed to resources across campus to help them build a business of their own.
• Enactus:Anational non-profit organization with a goal of improving communities through social entrepreneurship and innovation. Members apply business concepts to teams to develop outreach projects.
• Epsilon NuTau:TheNation’s first entrepreneurship fraternity. This coed, professional organization will help members launch and maintain sustainable businesses. Members ultimately run their own nonprofit business, including everything from recruitment & marketing tactics and sales contests to legal documents, event coordination, and financial statements.
• Think Design: An advertising agency that connects Ohio University’s student organizations with people who have professional media talents. The organization aims to help place students in a position where they can develop their professional skills and expand their portfolio.
• ConsultingFellows:ConsultingFellows give future leaders tools to build analytical skills and business knowledge, as well as a complementary set of so-called soft skills which are becoming critical in today’s business environment.
• Amplified Communication: Amplified communication is a student organization that focuses on the value 'students helping students". This organization works with students and their brands to connect them to art, entertainment, entrepreneurship, and lifestyle.

Competitions:

• Business Pitch Competition: Enables young, aspiring entrepreneurs to practice developing, researching, and articulating their ideas in a fast-paced, fun forum. Participants learn how to effectively pitch an idea before judges, demonstrate why their idea is going to work, and to do so in a short amount of time.
• Scripps Innovation Challenge (Currently suspended): A university-wide student competition that gives Bobcats the opportunity to create innovative solutions to real-world media and communication problems. The goal of the competition is to harness the creativity of Ohio University students in order to develop new and innovative service, product or process solutions as the basis for a new startup business.
• Startup Weekend: Anyone is welcome to pitch their startup idea and receive feedback from their peers. Teams form around the top ideas then have the weekend for business model creation, coding, designing, and market validation. The weekend ends with presentations in front of local entrepreneurial leaders with another opportunity for critical feedback.
• Student Research & Creative Activity Expo:Over800 students from 56 different departments and schools showcase their original research at Ohio University’s biggest-ever Research and Creative Activity Expo with live performances, presentations and interactive demonstrations.

Seminars and Events:

• Ohio Business of Games Summit: Ohio University held an all day event about the business of gaming for the first time in 2017. This event drew in over 500 students and explored a variety of topics related to the industry. The event was put together by the Center of Entpreneurship and the Scripps College of Communication.
• Center of Entrepreneurship Socials: The Center of Entrepreneurship hosts socials in the spring and fall to inform students about what entrepreneurship is and how to add it into your acedmeic profile. These socials typically have food and refreshments, and draw a range of students. Students who have never heard of the clubs or programs can connect with students who are in them
• Science Cafes: Every other Wednesday the Front Room coffee house in Baker Center hosts a Science Cafe. A speaker (typically a faculty member from the university) will come in and talk about their topic of choice. Although not entirely entrepreneurial in nature, these cafes can lead to sparking interest in individuals which may lead to something more. 
• One Day Workshops: Periodically, students at Ohio University can find a free workshop to attend. Recently, Ohio University Entrepreneurs (see above) hosted a design thinking workshop. The organization brought in Gary Coombs (a professor here at OU) to talk about and demonstrate design thinking. There is another workshop coming up, unrelated to OUE, about film making that is also free to attend 

Media:

• Center for Entreprenuership Twitter: with around 400 follows, the CoE twitter is an avenue to notify students of upcoming events and other news the center may have. 
• Perspectives Magezine: The Ohio University Research department publishes Persepctives Magezine. Each edition covers anything innovative and entrepreneurial. This helps students get inspired and informed.

http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/Bucknell_University --- this is a good example. I like this one.

Faculty Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Ohio university’s faculty is intrinsically motivated and a highly innovative group of  professionals.  Through the different departments on campus the faculty has worked on research that helped generate over 8 and a half million dollars in licensing revenue.  This earned us the first place spot in 2011 for the most revenue generating university in Ohio.  Most of the revenue was generated by the Ohio University’s license to the Pfizer corporation for a growth hormone receptor antagonist. This technology is used as a therapeutic for patients with acromegaly, a form of gigantism.  

Along with the incredible technologies that Ohio University faculty have worked on they also continue to engage the innovative culture on campus.  Over the past year faculty and staff at OHIO have been engaged in a forum called Innovation Strategy Interim Report.  The goal of the forum is to advance forward-looking strategies for collaborative research and innovative academic programs that benefit OHIO students and faculty, while engaging with communities regionally and globally.  

Faculty also encourage students to innovate. Whether it be through the Center for Entrepreneurship or extra-curricular activities like start-up weekend or Ohio University Entrepreneurs, students who are active will be guided to meet and form relationships with resources and individuals that can help them take their idea to the next level. Furthermore, resources on campus are friendly to all entrepreneurs including students. For example, the Innovation Center leases space for start ups and would not hesitate working with students. TechGrowth Ohio is often present at any entrepreneurial event on campus and offers really awesome services to students. TechGrowth has the resourecs to help students commericalize their technology or help them seek investments. 

University Technology Transfer Function

Ohio University's technology transfer office works for faculty to provide patent protection, market evaluation, and transfer of intellectual property to businesses. The technology transfer office has helped Ohio University to achieve a number one ranking in Ohio for research and licensing revenue as well as a number four ranking nationally for return on investment in research, following Princeton University, Northwestern University, and New York University.

Ohio University may license a technology to an established business, or the faculty or staff inventor may create a startup company to do this. The Technology Transfer Office and its partners in the entrepreneurial ecosystem provide support to university inventors in the following ways:

Executives-in-Residence from the TechGROWTH Ohio program offer business coaching and support, including developing a business plan, analyzing the market, company formation, hiring employees, and managing legal issues.

The Innovation Center offers flexible office space and scientific laboratory space and equipment for startup businesses. Services also include business mentoring and networking opportunities. The LIGHTS program within the Innovation Center offers start up resources to individuals in the surrounding 28 counties.

The entrepreneurial ecosystem offers access to funding opportunities, such as growth grants and pre-seed investment from TechGROWTH Ohio, as well as connections to regional venture capital firms and other sources of financial support.

http://www.ohio.edu/research/tto/startup-resources.cfm

University-Industry Collaboration

Ohio University’s innovation center is partnered with multiple businesses and organizations:

JobsOhio: a private, non-profit corporation designed to drive job creation and new capital investment in Ohio through business attraction, retention, and expansion efforts.

Ohio Department of Development: Agency with a goal of creating jobs and building strong communities, while ensuring accountability and transparency of taxpayer money and exceptional customer service.

USDA Rural Development: An organization committed to helping improve the economy and quality of life in rural America.  

East Central Ohio Tech Angel Fund: A resource for entrepreneurs in the region to find seed funding.

To see additional resources and collaborative partners please click the following link.

http://www.ohio.edu/research/innovation/partners.cfm

Regional and Local Economic Development Efforts

Ohio University's Innovation Center is housed in a 36,000 square foot facility and aims to provide business incubation to better the economy of Athens and surrounding regions. Clients of the research center have access to office space, conference rooms, shared lab space, executives-in-residence, workshops, wellness, company discounts, company promotions, and extensive networking opportunities.

Adena Ventures was founded in 2002 and serves primarily the Appalachian region. This venture firm which operates through the innovation center provides equity capital and operation assistance to high-growth businesses.

Athenian Venture Partners invests in technology and information technology firms. This firm is renowned for its high returns on investment.

The East Central Ohio Tech Angel Fund focuses on opportunities in east-central and southeast Ohio. This fund consists of 27 investors and is one of the largest rurally focused investment funds in the United States.

The Ohio Small Business Development Center at Ohio University provides free business consulting to small businesses - new and existing - in Athens, Hocking, Meigs, and Perry Counties. The Ohio SBDC has been hosted at Ohio University since 1988. This arrangement has allowed the Ohio SBDC to leverage the relationship with the university to gain access to resources that would otherwise not be available to the local entrepreneur.

TechGROWTH delivers intensive operational assistance through “Executives in Residence” who validate opportunities and prepare companies for investment.  In addition, TechGROWTH provides small, competitive “Growth Funding” to qualifying companies to overcome targeted commercialization obstacles, pre-seed investments providing “first-in” funding for technology startups, and access to a regional network of angel investors for “follow-on” capital needs as well as access to venture capital markets to fund the “scale up” of production, sales, and marketing.   TechGROWTH is funded by an Ohio Third Frontier grant with support from Ohio University and private capital.  TechGROWTH’s impact shows a leverage ratio of over $9 of follow-on resources acquired for client companies for every $1 of state money invested, achieving over $69.7 million flowing into the region over its first four years.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/frQjdpNo9kHJEwmejRcSUPhfJTriEleYRpqsiJSSVY5pyiO-DPK-H7Wn7Wo2EvzzGNnQxGXIUbO4BwwHSlTM9wv9WAzxlQhl6KpUlzLseL4SA0t9duH_oVXuTLJBK-alRlAjEkTevAg.

SOURCE: http://www.ohio.edu/research/

Related Links

Ohio University

Ohio University Student Priorities

University Innovation Fellows

Fall 2017

Andrew_Stroud

Spring 2016

Ben Scott

Faith Voinovich 

Spring 2015

Lori Bentz

Alex Kneier

Spring 2014

John Herbert