This article is a part of a series on David Miller's research focused on the campus as the frontier for entrepreneurship in America. David Miller is the Director of Entrepreneurship at George Mason University.
Normally when I pose a question like "what does the future of entrepreneurship on local university campuses look like?" the person I'm interviewing either a) visually shutters and pauses for an indefinite amount of time while contemplating a response, b) side steps the query and instead tries to bring up a new topic of conversation or c) focuses on highlighting success they've found so far at their own schools rather than make any predictions about the future.
David Miller didn't even blink.
While he had no prepared statement in hand, it seemed like Miller had practiced his spiel time and time again: "What's the future of D.C.? What could local schools do better? Let me tell you." And with that, he took off.
Integrate with the local startup community. It's important to work with the local startup community. D.C. is home to a really driven tech crowd, the culture is present, so work off of what already exists. Partner with the innovators, the intellectuals in the small business realm. What's more, if the entrepreneurial spirit is already alive and well on campus, make sure to provide students and faculty with the opportunity to connect with area investors too.
Celebrate the winners. The key is to celebrate those that have already found success and are continuing in the pursuit of even more triumphs. The University of Maryland does a good job doing so with their business competition Cupid's Cup, effective social media campaign, and a slew of alumni profiles on its website. If you praise the victorious, more people will be willing to tread into the risky field of entrepreneurship.
Work with peer universities. You need lots of point of capture. Building coursework has to be very experimental and the best way to go about developing such curriculum is by working together with the consortium of universities you have available at your fingertips. Bounce ideas of of each other and develop integrated entrepreneurship events to connect students to their innovative peers at schools across the region.
Reward faculty members. Figure out a way to praise faculty. Change the incentive system so it's more hands on. Civil leadership should be rewarded like teaching, research, and service that faculty is traditionally responsible for, rather than solely the impressive studies that allow professors to earn tenure nowadays.
The whole school needs to be behind the entrepreneurship initiative. The entire university needs to work together in order to foster a culture of entrepreneurship, not just separate facets of the institution. At George Mason University we started Campus Founders VA. It connects 15 different entrepreneurship clubs in Virginia, breaking down the boundaries that normally isolate entrepreneur clubs on campus. Campus Founders promotes cross-institutional collaboration, an idea university faculty and administrators should apply at their own universities.
"Entrepreneurship is a part of our cultural founding," Miller explained. "Entrepreneurship is a life skill. We have the basis, America wants change, and now it's time to act."
