Priorities:Binghamton University Student Priorities
Contents
Overview
Binghamton University project pitch video:
Pop-Up Innovation Exercises
According to our Landscape Canvas Sysnthesis (attached image), our campus struggles most strongly with:
- Collaboration
- Knowledge of existing resources
- Drive or enthusiasm to pursue entrepreneurship
- Enterpreneurship programs
- Access to resources to pursue entrepreneurship
In order to address a lack of entrepreneurship programs, we were inspired by Tom Wujec from Autodesk's Pop-Up creative exercises, such as the Marshmallow Challenge or Drawing Toast. We believe that a program of multiple exercises across campus will inspire people to engage with innovation and entrepreneurship through exposure to entrepreneurship programs.
Timeline for Pop-Up Exercises
In order to impliment these programs, we have created a timeline in which we can follow to implement these changes. We hope to launch more of these interactive events in the near future, starting in the current semester.
Goal 1: Brainstorm and design or adapt previously made challenges for our campus community [Next 2-3 weeks]
Goal 2: Test challenges on focus groups from each area of academia [Before the end of the month]
Goal 3: Reach out to organizations and professors to run the activities [1.5 months away]
Goal 4: Create advertisements and student awareness of events [2 weeks after Goal 3 is reached]
Goal 5: Run a series of "prototype" runs across campus [2 weeks after Goal 4 is reached]
Goal 6: Disseminate surveys to participating and students for event revision, questions, and comments [1 week after events are ran]
Timeline for Pop-Up Exercises
In order to impliment these programs, we have created a timeline in which we can follow to implement these changes. We hope to launch more of these interactive events in the near future, starting in the current semester.
Goal 1: Brainstorm and design or adapt previously made challenges for our campus community [Next 2-3 weeks]
Goal 2: Test challenges on focus groups from each area of academia [Before the end of the month]
Goal 3: Reach out to organizations and professors to run the activities [1.5 months away]
Goal 4: Create advertisements and student awareness of events [2 weeks after Goal 3 is reached]
Goal 5: Run a series of "prototype" runs across campus [2 weeks after Goal 4 is reached]
Goal 6: Disseminate surveys to participating and students for event revision, questions, and comments [1 week after events are ran]
Innovation Awareness
The school offers a variety of services to students to assist them in their ventures. We realized that many of the services/events that the school's Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Partnerships offers get lost in a number of announcements that the students get. One our main priorities are to bring that information to the students in a way that won't become white noise. Our initiative is to contact every single professor in every single department and introduce them to The Office of E&IP. We want to make it a priority for the professors to make a bi-weekly announcement about entrepreneurial events that are going around on campus. We hope that this priority will raise awareness about innovation and entrepreneurship on campus within the students and bring about a huge boom in student ventures.
Central Innovation Agency
The problem that we set out to solve: There are many innovation resources on campus. However, there are so many that the various resources/groups are not working in sync, and are not aware as much as they should be of each other's activities. Much more can be accomplished if the resources were working in tandem. For example, there are two student groups that are both very entrepreneurship-oriented (the Entrepreneurship Learning Community and Enactus) yet the two are not working together at all. There is a lot of potential for joint events it only the two would be connected somehow.
We proposed the Binghamton Central Innovation Agency (BCIA). This student-run agency would be a central unifying force for the resources on campus and be well known to students as a place where they could go for all things innovation. The agency itself wouldn't be doing that many activities themselves, but instead, would work with unifying the existing groups on campus and rally them so more can get done.
Related Links
Spring 2017 UIF Candidates:
Spring 2018 UIF Candidates: