UCF Inventing Entrepreneurs Program

University of Central Florida, 2007 - $34,518

This grant supports a new program at UCF comprised of four parts: a Technology Ventures minor; an invention competition; a new student organization; and an organized approach to mentoring. Together, these strands will establish a multifaceted, integrated technological entrepreneurship program that creates academic, institutional, and cultural bridges between UCF's College of Engineering and College of Business Administration.

The Technology Ventures minor will consist of 21 credits broken into 12 entrepreneurship credits and 9 engineering credits. Two courses will include E-Team formation and it is hoped the overall minor will produce a large number of well developed prototypes and business/commercialization plans. The invention competition will require students to demonstrate prototypes as solutions to specific problems and articulate the economic opportunity created by the invention. The new student organization, Inventing and Designing Entrepreneurs Association (IDEA), will become a primary forum for E-Teams to meet and share lessons learned across academic disciplines. Finally, the proposal offers involvement by UCF agencies in academic advising, business coaching, intellectual property issues, and workshops.