School:Binghamton University

Overview

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 startupsnon studentstartups. The office of I&E oftenleavetheir doors open for students to walk in with questions about a particular resource or just life as an entrepreneur.