In October 2014, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign announced a partnership to unite the best minds in business and engineering. Through this partnership, MBA students at top-ranked Chicago Booth would connect with engineering students from University of Illinois, home to 15 top five ranked engineering degree programs, on opportunities to collaborate on venture creation. The goal is to encourage the development and retention of start-ups in Illinois.
The three stewards responsible for bringing the partnership to life are the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the Chicago Innovation Exchange (CIE) at the University of Chicago, and the Technology Entrepreneur Center (TEC) at U of I. The partnership also opens the door for innovators at both campuses to connect with additional resources and opportunities.
About the Polsky Center
The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Chicago Booth provides immersive, experiential education and venture creation resources for UChicago students and alumni who are interested in entrepreneurship, private equity, venture capital, and taking their existing businesses to the next level. The Polsky Center’s premier start-up launch program, the Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge (NVC), is designed to help student teams turn their ideas into viable businesses. Launched in 1996, and currently celebrating its 20th anniversary year, the NVC is recognized as the #1 university accelerator program. The program has graduated more than 100 companies, including GrubHub and Braintree, and has created thousands of jobs for the economy. Learn more about the Polsky Center at: chicagobooth.edu/entrepreneurship and the NVC at: chicagonvc.com.
About the Chicago Innovation Exchange
The Chicago Innovation Exchange at the University of Chicago fosters innovation and commercialization through shared space, connections, and collaboration. The CIE provides resources for students, faculty and local South Side community members as they advance their discoveries and ideas toward the marketplace. The CIE also manages the University of Chicago’s Innovation Fund, which invests in early business development and proof-of-concept work for ventures in a range of areas and helps UChicago faculty, students and staff translate scientific discoveries into scalable solutions to difficult societal problems. Bringing together the University’s distinctive strengths in research and resources from a network of world-class entrepreneurship programs, the CIE connects emerging entrepreneurs with Chicago’s broader innovation ecosystem and helps drive the creation of new businesses, jobs, and economic activity in the city and surrounding region. Learn more at: cie.uchicago.edu.
About the Technology Entrepreneur Center
Since 2000, the Technology Entrepreneur Center’s (TEC) mission has been to inspire its students to become the next generation of world-changing visionaries, leaders and entrepreneurs. This is accomplished through its courses, product competitions, workshops and other curricular and extra-curricular events that expose students to the concepts of technology innovation and market adoption. TEC offers on campus and online courses and certificate programs and hosts outreach activities for students and alumni. TEC also administers the annual Cozad New Venture Competition and the Illinois Innovation Prize, among several other programs. Learn more at: tec.illinois.edu.