A new initiative on campus spearheaded by the Lundquist College of Organization and the Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship is reimagining how we encourage, support—and importantly, fund—student-led innovation and entrepreneurship ventures and projects.
Identified as the Oregon Innovation Challenge, the plan launched in January and is off to a quick begin.
“We’ve partnered and leveraged the tips and passion of students to produce the Oregon Innovation Challenge, and the reception across campus has been extraordinary. Students are eager for this kind of help,” stated Jeff Sorensen, director of the Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship.
A lot more than 200 teams have answered the contact, bringing every little thing from tips for how to enhance tips for how to enhance antibiotic effectiveness to optimizing internal communications for athletic teams.
Open to all University of Oregon students, regardless of significant or class standing, the Oregon Innovation Challenge has pathways to engage students no matter the stage of their venture—from thought to emerging to at present in organization.
“As a item style significant, I devote numerous hours in the studio, so participating in OIC was a refreshing way to knowledge creativity in a new way,” stated participant Izzy Shilakes. “Throughout the plan, I had the chance to connect with students from diverse backgrounds who perceive the planet in distinctive approaches. This supplied a special point of view and gave rise to revolutionary tips that I could not have believed of otherwise.”
Throughout the 12-week plan, students participate in workshops, avail themselves of workplace hours with Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship employees, and get time with alumni mentors.
“We think emerging entrepreneurs are much more probably to persist in spite of setbacks when surrounded by a group of peers with equivalent targets,” stated Sorensen.
Beginning in January, students have met weekly, completed 3 workshops, and have logged 150 workplace hours with entrepreneurship center employees.
Numerous $ten,000 grants are to be awarded at the finish of the 12 weeks. These teams commit to join an eight-week summer season fellowship cohort, which consists of continuing mentorship and instruction.
“We’ve been so impressed by the excellent of student projects—after 12 weeks of perform, numerous of them have a compelling case for funding, and we want to help as numerous of these students as achievable,” explained Sorensen, who, prior to his part at the University of Oregon, headed up the biggest student innovation incubator in the nation at the University of Michigan.
Retain up with student projects and developments as the Oregon Innovation Challenge progresses by following UO Organization on LinkedIn and Instagram.
—AnneMarie Knepper-Sjoblom ’05, Lundquist College Communications