Overview

Founded in 1995, VentureWell (originally called the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance, or NCIIA) with support from The Lemelson Foundation, founded by prolific independent U.S. inventor Jerome Lemelson had from its beginnings invention at its heart. Lemelson, a man who believed that invention was essential to American economic success and vitality, envisioned a program that would foster the next generation of collegiate inventors and help them bring their ideas to impact.

VentureWell's mission is "to support technology innovation and entrepreneurship in higher education to create experiential learning opportunities for students and successful, socially beneficial innovations and businesses."

With a growing membership of more than 200 colleges and universities from all over the United States, VentureWell engages more than 5,000 student and faculty innovators and entrepreneurs each year, helping them to bring their concepts to commercialization.

VentureWell ‘pipeline’ provides nascent student start-ups with early stage funding, helps with business strategy development, mentoring and investment. VentureWell provides faculty with funding for courses and programs in technology entrepreneurship, opportunities for recognition and entrepreneurship education training and networking.

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Resources

For Institutions:

University Innovation Fellows: Leadership training for students focused on expanding the entrepreneurship ecosystem on campus.
Course & Program Grants: $50,000 for courses or programs that support the development of market-driven, technology-based inventions and innovations.
Sustainable Vision Grants: $50,000 for courses or programs in which breakthrough technologies are created and commercialized for the benefit of people living in poverty in the US and abroad.
OPEN Conference: Annual convening of faculty and students focused on expanding entrepreneurship and innovation in STEM and Engineering disciplines within academia.
Lean Launchpad Educators Training: Training for faculty to integrate customer and business model development techniques into entrepreneurship education.
Research to Innovation: Training for research scientists to adopt skills for translating research into commercially valuable innovation.

For Student Ventures:

E-Team Program: The E-Team Program provides funding, immersive workshops, and specialized coaching to student STEM innovators to help them move their inventions into the marketplace. Up to $25,000 funding per team.
Xcelerator Program: Part of the VentureWell pipeline that cultivates creators and entrepreneurs who can turn ideas into successful commercial products, The eight-month program provides necessary knowledge and skills, networking/partnership opportunities and coaching/mentoring to help innovators introduce products and services to target markets.
ASPIRE: An intensive week-long workshop that prepares startups for the investments and partnerships necessary to launch their ventures.

Impact for Students and Campus

Since 1995 the NCIIA has:

Funded 341 experiential courses and programs at hundreds of institutions throughout the United States
Funded 465 E-Team (innovative product development) projects that have resulted in more than 180 new businesses
These businesses have leveraged more than $365 million in additional funding
Engaged 2,000 students via E-Teams
Partnered with government agencies and corporates to advance our mission
Gained significant coverage from national media outlets and specialty outlets

2011-12 by the numbers:

23 Course and Programs grants awarded ($606,640)
37 Advanced E-Team grants awarded ($544,623)
11 Sustainable Vision grants awarded ($446,774)
$1,598,037 total grants awarded

Contact Information

To connect with the NCIIA with a general inquiry, click here. For more information, visit the NCIIA's website at http://nciia.org/.

Organization:VentureWell (formerly NCIIA)

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