Student Entrepreneurship

IDEA Center initiatives support aspiring student entrepreneurs in many ways. We seek to create meaningful opportunities for you to learn and experience entrepreneurship first hand. Our goal is to provide you with the tools and resources you need to succeed. Our resources and opportunities to engage are vast - we exist to support you and to help set you up for success!  Perhaps you want to learn more about entrepreneurship through our academic programs, such as the ESTEEM Graduate Program or our Minor in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. You may hope to connect with startups through internships or immersive learning opportunities - outstanding opportunities exist! Internships opportunities abound at the IDEA Center, where you can work closely with faculty startups to tackle new challenges and learn how to take a University technology from conceptualization to market.

Perhaps you already have your own idea for a startup and are looking for help: opportunities and resources are plentiful for students.  For those with their own ideas, we’ll surround you with resources to help successfully launch your startup.  Don’t yet have your own idea but would like to learn more about the startup process?  We’ll help connect you to other student, alumni or community startups – joining another startup team is a great way to learn!

Are you interested in competitions?  Our annual McCloskey New Venture Competition is another great way to make considerable progress with your own ideas for startups, or to connect with other student teams.  More than $400,000 in cash and prizes are awarded each year!

As you can see, there are many ways students can connect with the IDEA Center!  We encourage you to check out the additional information found under each tab.