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= <span style="font-size:x-large;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;">Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship </span></span> =

<span style="font-size:larger;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;">The University of Pittsburgh is a city campus complete with a 4-year accredited undergraduate program, which is complemented by numerous prestigious graduate programs such as the School of Medicine, School of Law, School of Pharmacy, and School of Business. The University of Pittsburgh receives $760 annually to fund its various is a reputable research endeavors. &nbsp;These research dollars have institution which has cultivated an environment that has fostered the growth of an incredibly young , yet impressive entrepreneurial landscape. &nbsp;Pitt is a giant also very reputable in life science innovation, partnering its engineering and business programs with the international conglomerate UPMC has yielded a plethora medical device inventions and innovations in addition to numerous patents, start-ups, and licensing opportunities. &nbsp;This success is trickling down through the ranks allowing students to become instrumental in large entrepreneurial pursuits. &nbsp;Programs such as the Coulter Program and CMI fund medical innovation and are beginning to recognize the untapped potential of undergraduate innovators. In addition, opportunities like the Randall Family Big Idea Competition help support &nbsp;any &nbsp;venture at the university.Through special project funds and micro grants , these programs are giving students a chance to contribute to Pitt’s entrepreneurial success. &nbsp;Undergraduate funding is an incredibly new standard for our entrepreneurial faculty and the overwhelming success of the pilot groups of undergraduate teams has ensured the sustainability of undergraduate funding for years to come.</span></span>

Update 2016<span style="font-size: All of the programs and oppurtunities listed above continue to play a large role in the I&E landscape today. Coulter and CMI are powerful programs that continue to be relevant today, and DesignHub, a project based student organization, has leveraged a partnership with CMI to generate project teams to solve medical device problems at UPMC. The Big Idea Competition has grown from two years ago, and is now a huge, university wide event. The engineering and business schools are increasingly pushing funding and students towards I&E. We have come a long way over the past two years, and more and more undergraduates are becoming involved in the movement. At the same timelarger;"><span style="font-family:georgia, faculty are increasingly realizing the power of cultivating a community of innovators.serif;"><br/></span></span>

  <span style="font-size:larger;"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;">Update 2019: The Big Idea Center and Innovation Institute were created in 2018 with a director, Babs Carryer. The center is thriving with dedicated Entrepenuers in Residence (EIR). The Big Idea center participates in a variety of programs from Global Entrepeneurship Week to Hackathons with a mission to increase women in STEM. The Swanson School of Engineering is an integral part of pioneering the way for innovation and entrepeneurship at Pitt by offering engineering students the opportunity to participate in the Innovation and Entrepeneurship certification program (which is just a few credits shy of receiving a minor). The campus overall is flourishing with innovation spaces that can be found with a variety of hardware and resources free to students.&nbsp;</span></span>