The Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at UT Dallas

The Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship at UTD was established in April 2006 as a collaborative initiative of the schools of Arts and Humanities, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, Engineering and Computer Science, Management, and Natural Sciences and Mathematics. The Institute’s role is that of a facilitator, catalyst and program sponsor – leveraging the power of ideas and technology to create new ventures and add economic, social and cultural value to our community.

The Institute plays a major role in promoting cross-disciplinary academic and outreach programs across the university, including cross-listed courses, joint degree programs and broad-based community outreach initiatives involving each of the seven schools of the university. The Institute’s initiatives include:  

• Academic and Student Programs: academic curricula for graduate and undergraduate students and student programs, including the Entrepreneurship Club@ UT Dallas, the annual UT Dallas Business Idea Competition, and a Game Design Business Plan Competition designed to raise awareness and foster and encourage an entrepreneurial mindset among students.
  
  
• Faculty/Staff Development Programs: including the Commercialization & Entrepreneurship Boot Camp, targeted at faculty, staff and graduate students and designed to stimulate interest in entrepreneurship and support the commercialization of UT Dallas technologies. 
  
  
• Venture Development Program: an “incubator without walls,” supporting the commercialization of technologies developed within or in partnership with the university. Venture Development’s faculty and MBA student interns provide resources, counseling, connections and opportunities, facilitating the transition from idea to market and enhancing the likelihood of new venture success.
  
  
• Community Outreach:  a variety of programs targeted at entrepreneurs and the general public, including the Entrepreneurial Development Series, the Research and New Venture Showcase events, and the UTD Innovation Opportunity Camp for high school students.
  
  
• Research: world class research that extends our understanding of the theory and practice of innovation, commercial entrepreneurship and the processes of creative thinking. 
  

Accomplishments 2007-2008

We are pleased with the Institute’s progress and accomplishments during its first two years of operations.

Academic Program

By almost any measure, UT Dallas offers the finest academic program in innovation and entrepreneurship in the region.

Our academic program has grown to include six full-time faculty, eleven graduate and three undergraduate courses in the School of Management. Concentrations are offered in the BA, MS and MBA programs, and a minor in the field is available to all undergraduates.

Undergraduate enrollments are up by 55% over 2006-2007 and total enrollment has grown to than 700 students in the current year, an increase of 40% over the prior academic year.  Despite the growth, we have maintained a program of the highest quality. Over the past two years, student course evaluation scores have averaged 4.66 (on a 5.0 point scale) for graduate and 4.30 for undergraduate courses, well above the university average.  

Student Programs

In November 2007, the first annual UTD Business Idea Competition drew 37 student teams that competed for $39,000 in cash prizes. A faculty panel selected 24 semi-finalists who presented their business ideas to a team of outside judges in semi-final and final rounds on November 9th. Winners were announced at an afternoon reception and went on to compete successfully in national business plan competitions in Spring 2008, with our top team winning two major competitions and finishing fourth at another and our second team winning third place in another competition.

Faculty/Staff Development

Initiatives have been well received and our visibility is increasing. The seven Commercialization & Entrepreneurship Boot Camps presented to date have averaged more than 90 UTD, UTSW and UTA faculty and graduate students in attendance at each.  UT San Antonio has adopted our model and successfully presented its first Boot Camp in March 2007. Our May 2007 Boot Camp was professionally-produced in a DVD format for the Institute and for statewide use by the Texas ETF.

Venture Development

Currently, we have six companies enrolled in our venture development program, with plans to open an incubation facility in early 2009. To date, we are actively mentoring the enrolled companies in raising more than $2.5 million in funding for their programs.

Community Outreach

Programs are continuing to grow and expand. Our Research and New Venture Showcases highlight the university’s cutting edge research and technology programs. To date, we have focused on Nanotechnology; Virtual Worlds, Simulation and Game Technologies; Cyber Security and Geospatial Sciences and Brain Science. A program in Human Communications Technology is on the calendar for October 2008. Attendance at these events, aimed at a general audience, has averaged more than 100 registrants per session.  

The Entrepreneurial Development Series is targeted at aspiring entrepreneurs and technical managers in established organizations. This program was presented successfully last year and will be offered again in a series of nine monthly modules beginning in September 2008.

In September 2007, the Institute supported the Dallas Rotary Club’s Camp Enterprise, an annual three-day residential camp program for inner-city youth. Seventeen student volunteers served as counselors and mentors for this annual program. We will be supporting Camp Enterprise again in September 2008.

New Initiatives for 2008

UTD Innovation Opportunity Camp. We are developing a two-week summer program focused on innovation and entrepreneurship for high school students for presentation in June 2009. Partially underwritten by the TI Foundation, this team-based program will feature the entrepreneurship faculty, with significant contributions by entrepreneurial CEOs and service providers.

Texas University Network for Innovation & Entrepreneurship.  In May 2008, the Institute teamed with the Rice Alliance to co-sponsor an organizing meeting for a proposed state-wide organization of university entrepreneurship centers. Dr. Picken, of UT Dallas will serve an initial two-year term as the Executive Director of this organization. Our goal is to encourage collaborative initiatives, deliver a consistent message about our contributions to economic development and provide a forum for the exchange of program ideas and best practices among entrepreneurship programs across Texas.