School:Ohio state university
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Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship
The Center for Entrepreneurship at Fisher College of Business is an excellent indicator of the university's dedication to sponsoring and supporting student endeavors in innovation, regardless of age or status. The center provides an interdisciplinary minor in entrepreneurship, and enourages student idea generation and protection via a series of courses designed to cross reference the technical strengths of engineered solutions with the flawless business plan and strategy generators at the business school. This initutive comination of skills culminates towards a $100,000 OSU Business Plan Competition, which as generated incredible promise with both an Open Track and an Undergraduate Track. Historically, the Open Track winners have gone on to perform superbly at business plan competitions like Rice Business Plan Competition - they have generated millions in funding, and created even more in value right here in Columbus.
Faculty Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Faculty at Ohio State are renowned academic researchers, creating applications with potential for widespread impact in areas ranging from third world public health solutions, all the way to access to basic recources and materials at incredibly low pricepoints. However, recent assessments of faculty perception of I&E on campus has yielded some troubled thoughts on what faculty think is available to help see their ideas through the product lifecyles, and what is actually available. In fact, there are several organizations on campus aimed to assisting faculty. Adjunct faculty in the Deparment of Biomedical infomatics have been widely successful with a number of commercial activities, ranging from consultant work to founding and creating their own software and clinical workflow startups. In fact, many of these startups have gone on to become mainstream components of the Ohio State University workflow and gold standards, a feat depicting the high levels of support that are offered to faculty through organizations like TechColumbus, BioOhio and the Technology Commercialization Office and IDEA Studio at Ohio State.
University Technology Transfer Function
The Technology Commercialization Office (TCO) at The Ohio State University offers excellent servives ranging from IP strategy and protection, to idea generation and student entrepreneurial incubation. In particular, programs like Wake Up Start Up and the BOSS Competition encourage company formation around cutting edge student ideas, whether or not businesses have been developed around that idea already. Moreover, the TCO offers unparalleled opportunities for entrepreneurs who are really dedicated game changers - access to key networks, introductions to TechColumbus and other key investors, accelerators and growth partners are just a few of the several functionalities that the TCO provides.
With regards to tech commercialization, faculty members are unaware of the many beneficial recources readily available with help of the TCO. As a result, Ohio State has seen subpar commercialization, both in terms of quantity and quality when it comes to piepline products. As a result, the university has seen several clubs form, with a mission to lubricate the pipeline. One of the notable organizations involved here is Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM).
Regional and Local Economic Development Efforts
The Ohio State University has partnered with several well established institutions with the intention of recuriting talent and promoting regional economic development in the area. Partnerships with TechColumbus and Drive Capital have generated millions in value, while providing entrepreneurs, both students and faculty, with the opporutnity to incubate, accelerate and then fundraise within one geographic vicinity. The Ohio State University is known for its excellent academic research, and in an effort to sponsor truly translational innovation, has partnered with these groups to build value.
The Ohio State University is also dedicated to its support of regional powerhouses - Columbus is rated the most intelligent city in the nation for its plethora of big companies and corporate power, including but not limited to Cardinal Health, JPM, Limited Brands and more. This has encouraged more big business in the area, which thereby introduces the need for innovative startups, which often see support from Ohio State's many partners.
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Ohio State's Entrepreneurial Rating
Objectively, The Ohio State University deserves an 8/10 for entrepreneurial activity. This is simply due to the fact that there has been significant growth and support of innovation for student ideas. The university has created several resources for student idea generation and incubation, and Columbus has a thriving startup community, now home to the largest maker space in the country. Dr. Camp, an Executive Director at the Center for Entrepreneurship at Fisher College of Business, is incredibly supportive of the I&E ecosystem on campus and has helped facilitate the development and growth of highly technical concepts into working business models that are investor and customer worthy.
The Ohio State University is lacking, however, in firmly convincing faculty of the importance and pragmatism underlying commercialization of their ideas. The commercialization effort should be more succinct and efficient with the faculty taking a more active approach in strategizing. With a top-notch cancer treatment and research facility, The Ohio State University should be generating a lot more game-changing drugs, diagnostics and research tools that we have seen in the market in the last decade. Assuming the activity of OSU UIFs remains high, this rating can be expected to improve on both quantitative and qualitative metrics.
Moreover, while the Ohio State Univerisity recognizes the entrepreneurial work of its faculty, it is missing a large piece of the puzzle: its students. On the campus, students are lacking unique spaces to join together and create. Whether it involves design thinking, product development, or simply being surrounded by like-minded entrepreneurial students, there are no places on campus to do so. It is necessary to provide an area for