Overview

United States colleges and universities have a tremendous untapped entrepreneurial resource in their students as well as their faculty. Invention to Venture helps students, faculty and regional industry find common ground in technological innovation and highlights the path to entrepreneurial success.

NCIIA and our partners are developing formal resources to help students find information on business formation, networking and identifying team members, service providers, and financing sources.

What People are Saying 

"I walked away knowing that every place has incentives, opportunity and risk. Inertia holds us back."- Full-time undergraduate student California State University Fresno

"I learned that I still have a lot to learn."- Faculty member University of Southern Mississippi

"Entrepreneurship is feasible for someone even like me."- Full-time undergraduate student University of Southern Mississippi

 

The Program

In the 2004/05 academic year, over 15 universities have hosted 28 Invention to Venture introductory workshops. We also coordinated specialized workshops at venues such as the Sustainable Resources conference and professional society meetings and the Invention to Venture Life Sciences Forum, held at Harvard Medical School Conference Center.

Invention to Venture Workshops 

• Workshops are designed for sophisticated, technology-oriented undergraduate and graduate students along with interested faculty and alumni seeking to develop technology-based products and businesses.

• Sessions provide an overview of the commercialization process and connect academic and business communities.
• Workshops serve as a guide for technology business plan development and a vehicle for tech entrepreneurs to identify resources to start their ventures.
• Workshops complement the extensive grant program that NCIIA already provides for student inventors and faculty courses in innovation and entrepreneurship.

If you are interested in hosting an Invention to Venture workshop, please contact the NCIIA.