To improve a process, to make something better—the fundamental human need to grow and progress—is the intrinsic motivation for both universities and entrepreneurship, making them natural partners. Entrepreneurship is also about solution-finding. At its best, those solutions can have deep impacts on the environment and society, making our experience of the world better through business. It’s important work, and we don’t take the charge lightly. That’s why I’m eager to share the many ways the Lundquist College of Business and the Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship, under the leadership of director Jeff Sorensen, are at the heart of fast-expanding opportunities and activities for entrepreneurs—not just at the college, but at the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact, as well as the entire university. In the past few years, we have increased curricular offerings, launched a new incubator program called the Oregon Innovation Challenge, debuted on-demand consulting services by students, expanded mentoring by entrepreneurs-in-residence, invested in faculty, and much more. Expanding Entrepreneurship: New Courses, Minors, Certificates At the Lundquist College, we have long offered entrepreneurship concentrations and specializations to undergraduate business majors and MBA students. But we have recently expanded those curricula and courses. This past year, for instance, we enabled our accounting majors to add a concentration in entrepreneurship as well. And, we launched an entrepreneurship minor in 2017 that has blossomed over the past two years, becoming one of the UO’s largest minor programs with more than 150 students. We have taken a similar tack at the graduate level, creating a new, four-course certificate program in entrepreneurship open to all graduate students on campus but designed specifically for those in the Knight Campus. Andrew Nelson, professor of management and Randall C. Papé Chair in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, was the architect of these courses and teaches the first course in the series, which is now required for all Knight Campus graduate students. In addition, a $2 million endowment fund will support graduate students who take these new courses, establishing the Knight Campus Cameron Innovation Fellows. These funds are part of a significant gift announced last year from the estate of Gerry and Marilyn Cameron to support entrepreneurship at the Lundquist College and Knight Campus. In partnership with Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), we’re even extending this graduate-level entrepreneurship training and certification to researchers, doctors, and potential health entrepreneurs at the state’s flagship medical school in Portland. In fact, half a dozen OHSU faculty and students enrolled in and attended Nelson’s course remotely, joining Knight Campus students to learn how to take their innovations from idea to startup. We hope this is just the start of many exciting possibilities for long-term collaboration with OHSU around entrepreneurship and innovation. A New Incubator Experience Our increasing enrollment in entrepreneurship studies and courses affirms that students are hungry for these opportunities at all levels. That’s why we have also created a new model for nurturing innovation and entrepreneurship for all UO students. Envisioned and created by Sorensen in collaboration with the Oregon Entrepreneurship Group student club, the Oregon Innovation Challenge (OIC), now in its second year, is a months-long incubator for student startups that includes in-depth workshops, one-on-one mentoring, training, a peer community, a pitch competition, and even funding for top projects. This year 263 projects joined OIC, 80 made it to pitches, and 33 received a total of $175,000 in funding to take their ideas to the next level. Among those projects were students from 65 different majors, including six PhD student ventures from the Knight Campus and one team from our master’s in Sports Product Management program in Portland. Investing in Faculty and Research Of course, with our growing entrepreneurship programs, we as a university and college have been making strategic investments in faculty expertise in this area—with a host of recent key hires adding to an already accomplished group of academics. These new faculty members will not only inspire and educate students, they will advance our understanding of entrepreneurship as an economic and cultural engine. Few institutions have the depth and breadth of resources and expertise needed to dig deep and be a thought leader on the topic. We do, and we are leading the charge. Read the rest at https://business.uoregon.edu/news/inside-lundquist-summer-2024