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UNF is an emerging center for entrepreneurship in Jacksonville, and in Northeast Florida. UNF’s Coggin College of Business is primarily responsible for the increased emphasis on entrepreneurship and innovation. Most recently, after a $1 million dollar donation, UNF created the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
<div>[[File:UNF Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.jpg|alt=|left|640x640px|link=Special:FilePath/UNF_Center_for_Entrepreneurship_and_Innovation.jpg|UNF's Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in downtown Jacksonville. Each of the two floors provides start-up companies with about 7,000 square feet of lab space.|thumb]]The [https://www.unf.edu/coggin/CEI/About_the_Center.aspx UNF Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation] (CEI) is open to 15 start-up companies per year where entrepreneurs undergo a year-long development program at the 13,000-square-foot living, learning lab, located in the center of downtown Jacksonville in the Barnett National Bank Building. The CEI is a space available to any students in business, engineering, health, education, and arts and sciences, providing access to necessary services and living-learning lab space to help foster start-up growth. Some of the provided resources include developing business plans, finding student interns for support, professional advising, and networking. Involved entrepreneurs are also able to propose their ideas to a local panel of experts who have applied to support UNF's CEI. In 2022, the CEI sponsored events such as the Innovation Challenge Week sponsored by [https://www.unf.edu/coggin/CEI/Crowley_Innovation_Challenge.aspx#contact Crowley] and [https://www.unf.edu/coggin/CEI/Community_First_Challenge.aspx Community First] and the [https://www.unf.edu/coggin/CEI/Cohort_Information.aspx Swisher Growth Pitch Competition] which specifically helps minority entrepreneurs.
The Coggin College of Business also offers a minor in entrepreneurship that all students have the opportunity to partake in. The minor itself is predominantly business-oriented but does offer courses that teach creativity and design thinking. This minor coincides with the 200 registered student organizations on campus, one of which is the Entrepreneurs, Creators, and Innovators club. In addition, UNF offers courses such as GEB4942: Entrepreneurial Internship, which stimulates innovation and allows students to gain real-world experiences in entrepreneurial business. Other courses such as MAN4294: Creativity and Innovation in the Workplace, teach students how to have a creative mindset when exploring different possibilities in complex and uncertain environments. There may be an opportunity to expand the number of clubs or students involved with social innovation because the UNF Student Government, which has an annual budget of roughly $4.5 million dollars, just announced the creation of a new Student Involvement Center.