Institutions like the University of Maryland are finding new ways to incubate businesses. One example is the Hinman Campus Entrepreneurship Opportunities (CEOs) program at UM, the nation’s first “living-learning” entrepreneurship initiative, which brings students from diverse majors together under one roof to learn how to start their own businesses. A specialized, high-tech “e-Dorm,” seminars and workshops from venture capitalists and successful businesspeople, industry-student mentoring, and unique entrepreneurship education courses give students a stimulating “living incubator” environment in which to realize their ideas.
The Rensselaer Incubator Program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has nurtured technology start-ups for twenty-three years, graduating a number of successful student-run companies. Simon Balint, the Interim Director of the RPI incubator, told us how university relationships and the incubator network benefit fledgling companies.
The Rensselaer Incubator Program is university-run, as are one-third of the incubators in the US. “That is a large draw,” said Balint, “because universities provide access to talented workforces (students and faculty), access to sophisticated equipment and expertise, and the potential for joint research and grant funding.” Balint coordinates student projects in which MBAs write business plans, engineers produce CAD drawings, and computer science majors build Websites, assistising incubator clients for credit.
The program is great at helping students find advisors and build their networks. The on-site incubator staff is always available to provide advice and help clients resolve issues on an informal basis. More formally, area consultants volunteer to hold one-on-one mentoring sessions weekly at the incubator. Finally, clients can benefit from the wider community. The incubator has “deep relationships with the campus and the external community and can help the companies build advisory boards. “We draw on graduate incubator entrepreneurs and executives, civic leaders, and business leaders and pull them together to act as mentors and advisors to the companies,” says Balint.
