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==== <span style="font-family:verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Significant Social Impact</span> ====

<span style="font-family:verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Love of the Game is a community outreach program aiming to integrate universities and people with physical and cognitive disabilities through sports.</span>

*<span style="font-family:verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Casey McRae - Plastics Engineering '15</span>

<span style="font-family:verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">They created a novel and revolutionary sports equipment construction centered around an innovative shear-thickening material</span>

*<span style="font-family:verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Alessandro Agnello- &nbsp;Computer Science PhD</span>

<span style="font-family:verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Word Builder is an interactive toy designed to help children build the foundations of reading at an early age.</span>

*<span style="font-family:verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Alima Shamuratova - Business Graduate</span>

The DifferenceMaker™ Program plans to continue many of the activities and events initiated in the first year of the program.&nbsp; Some of these programs will be revised and they intend to launch several new initiatives, including a DifferenceMaker™ Passport Program, a DifferenceMaker™ Mentor Program and a seed grant program to encourage faculty participation in the DifferenceMaker™ program. They also plan to expand our collaboration with several University colleges.&nbsp;

In order to assist students to both record and encourage their participation in DifferenceMaker™ events, they are planning the development and implementation of a DifferenceMaker™ Passport Program. Consistent with the goals of the UMass Lowell DifferenceMaker™ Program, the Passport Program will assist students to identify, record and collect experiences meant to:&nbsp;

They anticipate that the number of students engaged in the DifferenceMaker™ Program and related activities will increase each year. As they encourage and reward the formation of various types of student ventures and projects, the need for mentors who can consult with student teams will increase. They plan to guide these students and track their progress through a professional Mentor Program. The UMass Lowell Mentor Program will provide a committed network of mentors with a broad set of skills and professional experiences, who can assist UMass Lowell entrepreneurs in developing the knowledge and skills, needed to grow an idea into a successful, new venture.

While the overarching goal of the DifferenceMaker™ program is to encourage UMass Lowell students to develop sustainable and entrepreneurial solutions to the challenges and opportunities they will confront in this world, they anticipate another, potentially significant impact on the University community itself. Our students will only be successful if they have the support of faculty, alumni, business and community members. During our first year of program activities, they have found these constituents to be most supportive and willing to mentor and work with our students.&nbsp; Alumni are mentoring and investing in student ventures.&nbsp; Faculty are working across disciplines to ensure their student teams make progress. Local profit and non-profit businesses are eager to work with student teams, providing real-world problems and opportunities for student projects. In one short year, the DifferenceMaker™ program has been embraced by the greater University community. Our hope and plan is to anchor this program in the curriculum and culture of the University, so all UMass Lowell students have an opportunity to make a difference in this world.

Commercial Ventures and Intellectual Property (CVIP) is responsible for the protection and commercialization of intellectual property at UMass Lowell.&nbsp;

The mission of UMass Lowell’s Office of Commercial Ventures and Intellectual Property (CVIP) is to facilitate the transfer of technology arising from government, foundation and industrial sponsored university research to the private sector. They facilitate development of inventions toward commercial relevance and utility, nurture mutually beneficial and sustainable relationships between the University and industry, promote an innovative and entrepreneurial culture at the University and contribute to the economic vibrancy and well-being of the Commonwealth. CVIP’s activities enable the successful transfer of commercially viable technology from the laboratory to the marketplace for public use and benefit.&nbsp;

The Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center (M2D2) is a lifeline for the state’s smaller medical device companies, offering inventors and executives easy, affordable, and coordinated access to world-class researchers and resources at the Lowell and Worcester campuses of the University of Massachusetts.

*9000 square feet of space on second floor including:

**New Venture Competitions

'E for All' is a project of the&nbsp;Deshpande Foundation, which has encouraged the use of entrepreneurship and innovation as catalysts for sustainable change in the United States, India and Canada since 1996. Deshpande supported centers including the&nbsp;MIT Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation, the Deshpande Center for Social Innovation&nbsp;in Hubli, India, the Pond-Deshpande Centre&nbsp;at the&nbsp;University of New Brunswick, and our own 'E For All' &nbsp;at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. 'E for All' includes higher education partners (Middlesex Community College, Merrimack College and Northern Essex Community College) and a host of regional community and business partners.

The mission of 'E For All' is to connect and strengthen the ecosystem in Lowell and Lawrence, Massachusetts, around entrepreneurship and leadership. This mission is supported by the following three principle 'E For All' programs:

·&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Leadership-The 'E For All' Leadership Institute (SLI) offers leadership development for individuals that live, work or are interested in the communities of Lawrence and Lowell.&nbsp;

= '''University Entrepreneurship''' =