Lisa Cuesta is vice president at NextGen Venture Partners in D.C.
While interns in D.C. may be heading to the Hill for the summer, some of their peers have opted to stay on-campus to launch their own ventures.
These students are attending college at a time when tech companies are eclipsing traditional companies and universities are under pressure to prove their value to students. Having recently visited my alma mater, I was stunned to see the new programming that has been developed to support entrepreneurial students.
Of course, student entrepreneurship isn’t a new phenomenon—several tech titans including Google, Facebook, and Microsoft trace their roots back to a college dorm room. What is new, however, is the coordinated effort across universities and their communities to dedicate resources to developing and retaining this talent.
What is new, however, is the coordinated effort across universities and their communities to dedicate resources to developing and retaining this talent.
In recent years, universities have been investing in the creation of classes, incubators and pitch competitions to inspire and foster student company formation. Elective classes introduce students to the basics of design thinking, prototyping and starting a business. Incubators and on-campus facilities create a conducive environment for students to test their ideas and meet advisors that can help navigate the challenges of launching a business. Pitch competitions provide visibility and awards to high-potential companies.
Schools with a long history of programs in innovation and entrepreneurship may have a head start, but that doesn’t mean that others have thrown in the towel. For example, Cornell has made massive investments and attracted large donors to develop an applied science and engineering campus in New York City, known as Cornell Tech. After an extensive collaboration between the school and former Bloomberg administration that dates back to 2011, the city hopes the school’s opening this summer will jumpstart the tech economy in New York. Not to be outdone, Columbia University and New York University are building competing facilities.
Of course, results won’t happen overnight. However, these examples demonstrate that universities’ entrepreneurship initiatives can have an outsized return on not only inspiring and educating student entrepreneurs but also engaging alumni, recruiting faculty and staff, and bolstering the local tech ecosystem.
Image used via CC BY-SA 2.0 — credit sach1tb
