University Hosts Entrepreneurship Week

With "Idea People" on the right and "Skills People" on the left, the CNVC Speed Teaming event, held at Biaggi's Restorante in Champaign on Monday, Nov. 16, 2009, offered a way for students to make connections and enlist the help of their peers.
Joshua Beckman The Daily Illini

The Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the University is sponsoring Global Entrepreneurship week which began Monday and ends Friday. “I think that this whole week is a great opportunity to build awareness for entrepreneurship and to expand on what other people think they can do,” said Matt Gornick, senior in LAS.“Some people don’t think they can start companies in college and this whole week is letting them know that they can and making them aware.”

The week was planned with multiple events and activities that allow students to explore entrepreneurship.

“We have a speed teaming event taking place at Biaggi’s,” said John Clarke, assistant dean of the Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership. “We also have a series of lectures, talks, and presentations taking place as well.”

The speed teaming event was a way for students with ideas and no partners to come together with students that have an interest in starting a company, but do not have an idea to work on.

“The main goal of the Entrepreneurship Week is to drive and establish a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation for the students at the University,” said Roger Jin ,Executive Director of the Business Charity Foundation. “It is our vision to establish a culture of entrepreneurship as strong as the entrepreneurship rooted in MIT, Stanford, and Silicon Valley.”

Entrepreneurship week is also intended to publicize the entrepreneurship opportunities available to students on campus. There are currently more than 100 entrepreneurship courses offered in all colleges on campus.

A few classes offered in the College of Business and the College of Engineering are foundations of entrepreneurship and lectures in engineering entrepreneurship. In both classes, students learn about the fundamental concepts of entrepreneurship such as product development and commercializing new technology.

Entrepreneurship education on campus is growing quickly, with a minor to be launched soon.

“The academy has been working to increase its number of entrepreneurship courses offered,” Clarke said. “The amount of students taking the courses has doubled and the amount of courses being offered has tripled.”

Global Entrepreneurship Week is an event that is being conducted in 75 countries.

Monday at the Seibel Center, Daniel Vidakovich, founder and president of Innovative in Education, presented to students explaining his company’s pursuit of allowing for education on the Internet. Their project has been ongoing for a year and is growing, with its first courses scheduled to be launched online in 2010.