Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/201447
Students showcase their ideas during the "Celebration of Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship," a networking event that ends Villanova's annual Pitch Day. other IU departments to create a universitywide entrepreneurial certificate program. Three of the program's five courses originate in the business school—each department that offers the certificate must design the other two to suit its discipline. Kuratko is now working with deans across campus to develop their specialized courses. The Johnson Center positions itself solely as a resource and research center for the university—it does no outreach to the external community. "With 45,000 students, our campus is a city in itself," says Kuratko. "We focus on campus because that's where we think our efforts are best spent." Like the Johnson Center, the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland's Smith School of Business in College Park is working to reach a more diverse audience. It's in the process of creating an entrepreneurship minor designed to encourage entrepreneurship in all forms among students majoring in any discipline. And to attract more women and minorities to entrepreneurship, its staff is exploring ways to work with organizations such as historically black colleges and universities; TiE Silicon Valley, an organization focused on Indian American entrepreneurs; and Springboard Enterprises, a group dedicated to women entrepreneurs in technology. "By working with organizations that already are supporting different groups, we can really target our services," says Elana Fine, director of the Dingman Center. "We want to put ourselves in front of these audiences as much as we can, rather than just wait for them to walk through our door." WHAT MAKES A GREAT CENTER? Building a successful academic entrepreneurship center takes time, energy, and a lot of creativity. Several center directors offer this advice to those who want to take their centers to the next level: Think like entrepreneurs. Get minimal product out there, gather feedback, and rapidly update the prototypes of your programs, says Elana Fine of the University of Maryland. "It's about how quickly you can seize opportunities, try new things, and get rid of programs that don't work." Start small. "Expand only when you know that a program has enough energy and momentum behind it to sustain it," says II Luscri of Villanova. Listen to users. "There's an old saying, 'Why give customers what they want when we know what they need?'" jokes Bruce Bachenheimer of Pace University. But he emphasizes that entrepreneurship centers must let users help direct their design. Pace's eLab is equipped with the latest computer equipment, but it turns out most students "just need big tables, power outlets, fast wi-fi, and a refrigerator." Talk to colleagues across the university. Centers should discover what entrepreneurship means to each discipline, so they can tailor their services to each department. Build on existing opportunities. Centers don't always have to reinvent the wheel. Find courses and programs across the campus that already exist and "dump some gas on them, fan the flames, and make them bigger," says Luscri. Don't expect to make money. Entrepreneurial centers are not profit centers, says Donald F. Kuratko of Indiana University. "If you think yours will be, you will fail," he adds. "You'll need donors and sponsors to sustain you." Celebrate! Celebration is a part of establishing an entrepreneurial culture, says Fine. "We hold big celebrations on campus; we celebrate over social media," she says. "We celebrate not just when a new company is founded, but when it gets its first customer, launches a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, makes a new hire. We want to show entrepreneurs how impressed we are that they're taking such risks." Join like-minded groups. Two organizations are especially valuable, say these directors. The Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers sponsors regular gatherings of center directors as well as an annual conference each October. The 1,900-member National Business Incubation Association trains faculty and staff to effectively assist early stage companies. For information, visit www.globalentrepreneurshipconsortium.org and www.nbia.org. BizEd November/December 2013 25