School:University of Oklahoma
Take a state you normally wouldn't think of in this regard: Oklahoma. It has its own Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology...
- Thomas L. Friedman, The World is Flat.
Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship
OU has two main resources for I&E. The first is the Center for Entrepreneurship housed in the Price College of Business. They offer undergraduate major and minors, as well as an MBA with an Entrepreneurship emphasis. The core is a three-semester New Venture Development course that includes Ideation, Feasibility Analysis, and Business Plan Development. The Center for Entrepreneurship offers Venture Strategy Sessions.
The Sooner Seed Fund is a branch of the Entrepreneurship department, with MBA candidates overseeing the funds to launch student ventures.
The second resource is the Center for the Creation of Economic Wealth. CCEW offers semester-long internships for university students to participate in three distinct programs: Software Acceleration, Technology Commericialization, and Social Entrepreneurship. High-performing students are paired with an inventor of a product or idea, a mentor, and over the course of a semester they work on the venture and achieve impactful results.
Under the umbrella of CCEW, the Oklahoma Funding Accelerator is a student-run business consulting organization formed to assist local and student entrepreneurs in starting and expanding their businesses.
OU will soon launch the Innovation Hub, a multi-location maker space, business incubator, and collaboration zone for students, faculty, and local residents. This will be available in Spring 2016.
I&E resources include:
Center for Entrepreneurship- http://www.ou.edu/price/management_entrepreneurship/entrepreneurship.html
Center for the Creation of Economic Wealth- http://ccew.ou.edu/
Oklahoma Funding Accelerator- Www.okfa.org
Sooner Launch Pad- http://www.ou.edu/slp/
Govenor's Cup Competition- http://www.i2e.org/entrepreneurial-development/collegiate-business-plan-competition/
TEDxOU- http://tedxou.com/
One University Store- http://www.ou.edu/content/oneuniversity/store.html
Computer Science Software Studio -https://www.ou.edu/content/coe/cs/software_studio.html
Engineering Practice Facility - https://www.ou.edu/content/coe/about/facilities/practice.html
Startup Weekend - http://ou.startupweekend.org/
Innovation Hub - http://www.ou.edu/innovationhub
Faculty Innovation and Entrepreneurship
The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities has designated OU as an Innovation & Economic Prosperity University for the 2013 school year.
The OU Research Campus was named as the Outstanding Research Park by the Association of University Research Parks for the year of 2013. (https://aurp.memberclicks.net/assets/Video/university%20of%20oklahoma%20research%20campus%20video%20-%20sd.mp4)
The Office of the Vice President for Research includes many incentives for faculty to engage with entrepreneurship through a faculty challenge grant program, awards program, and research incentives program.
The University encourages innovation through their Intellectual Property Declaration, which can be found here: http://otd.ou.edu/pdfs/Intellectual_Property_Policy.pdf
University Technology Transfer Function
There is a strong emphasis on research at OU. The University Research Campus includes the Office of Economic Development. This office is comprised of three parts: Corporate Engagement Office, Office of Technology Development, and Center for the Creation of Economic Wealth.
The Office of Technology Development is the main resource for technology transfer. The Office of Technology Development is responsible for all intellectual property developed by OU faculty and coordinates filing patents and copyrights for the new technology.
University-Industry Collaboration
The Corporate Engagement Office is the main resource for University and Industry Collaboration. The Corporate Engagement Office is on the University Research Campus and deals primarily with corporate relations and business analytics.
The National Weather Center, one of the most advanced radar research facilities in the world, brings together government and industry with students in a unique one-of-a-kind facilities. http://www.nwc.ou.edu/
Regional and Local Economic Development Efforts
Innovation to Enterprise (i2E, Inc.) is a nationally recognized private not-for-profit corporation focused on growing innovative small businesses in Oklahoma and making a positive impact on the state’s economy.
OU, Oklahoma State University, and Innovation to Enterprise(i2E) have teamed up to develop a Proof of Concept Center.
Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science & Technology offers inventor's assistance, manufacturing assistance, seed capital, federal funding support, and technology commercialization for entrepreneurs.
Venture Spur serves as a venture accelerator and offers seed capital to early stage, high-growth ventures. They have an application process to accept start-ups and then have a 12-week program of education and development, office space, mentors, and technical services for the companies.
Many more venture capital firms exist within an hour of campus in the Oklahoma City metro area, including Catalyst, Dorchester Capital, Meta Fund, and more.
Related Links
University of Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma Student Priorities
University Innovation Fellows
Spring 2016:
Spring 2015:
Spring 2014:
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