Carnegie Mellon University announced this month that it is combining two existing entrepreneurship programs into a single center designed to inspire and nurture cutting-edge startups.

The new Carnegie Mellon Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) will bring together the school’s Project Olympus, which helps student and faculty teams create commercialized products and services, and the Donald H. Jones Center for Entrepreneurship, which is a center for entrepreneurial research.

“The Don Jones Center and Project Olympus have been tremendously successful in helping students and faculty take the crucial first steps in transforming research findings into products and services that people want to buy,” says Mark S. Kamlet, CMU provost and executive vice president and head of the new center’s governing body, in the press release.

Kamlet says this program will help make Carnegie Mellon a business leader, creating vibrant working partnerships between experts in technology and business.

The new CIE program will have three goals in mind: strengthen Carnegie Mellon University’s standing as an entrepreneurial hub, create commercial ventures out of the center’s research, and develop a strong network of alumni entrepreneurs. But the CIE will not abandon projects and programs from those prior centers, the university said — the CIE will continue its seasonal Show & Tell events, which allow campus researchers to bring their ideas in front of investors, as well as the Open Field Entrepreneurs Fund, which is an incubator space for new companies, and also provides workshops and business competitions.

Another major strength of the CIE will be the new alumni network, which is geared toward providing long-term help and advice to fledgling startups.

Dave Mawhinney, executive director of the Donald H. Jones Center, said the Alumni Entrepreneurial Network will work with the CMU’s many alumni who have launched successful startups. Those experienced graduates “can provide priceless guidance to the next generation of entrepreneurs,” he says in the release.

Other new initiatives in the center will include scholarships for undergraduates, as well as graduate fellowships.

[cf]skyword_tracking_tag[/cf]

Get Free Updates!

Stay in the loop with a bi-monthly newsletter, with all our news from the previous week.

I agree to have my personal information transfered to MailChimp ( more information )

We will never give away, trade or sell your email address. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Please Leave A Comment

comments

Related posts:

Forbes Announces the Most Entrepreneurial Universities in the U.S. Best U.S. Cities to Start a Business EntrepreneurshipUnion of Entrepreneurship, K-12 Could Be Mutually Beneficial NEA Studio Launches For Web Development and Design-Focused Entrepreneurship Teaching Entrepreneurship to Undergraduates: Can Innovation Be Taught?