Universities: Your New Best Friend

Tweet

HAIL TO THE VICTOR: First, the University of Michigan gave Kathy Zelenock $100,000 in capital. Then they sent over six M.B.A.'s to provide gratis consulting services.

And these days institutions of higher learning need that monetary support more than ever. The financial pressures on them are considerable, notes UNC provost Robert Shelton. State schools have suffered budget cuts as the surpluses in many state treasuries have quickly turned into nasty deficits. The collapse of the stock market has bruised endowment funds at many private and public schools, too. And increasingly, when the government awards research grants, it expects universities to pick up more of the direct costs. Meanwhile, schools face competitive pressure to boost faculty salaries, the continuing costs of upgrading technology, and rising enrollments that translate into higher expenses.

Increasingly, universities are cashing in on their investments in research. In 2000 university-generated inventions spawned 454 start-ups, up from 241 in 1994, according to the Association of University Technology Managers. Sometimes the faculty or student inventors launch the companies; in other cases entrepreneurs outside the university license the technology. Either way, the university usually ends up with licensing income or equity in the new company, a strong inducement to fostering an entrepreneurial culture at the school.

Another major factor is the revolution in business-school curricula over the past 25 years, as entrepreneurship has gone from a curiosity taught in a handful of schools to a must-have. The change reflects the growth of entrepreneurship in the overall economy. "Big corporations don't play the same sort of dominant role that they used to," says Dennis Logue, dean of the Michael F. Price College of Business at the University of Oklahoma, explaining why his school is now launching an entrepreneurship center. "Increasingly, our students will end up working for entrepreneurial organizations." Now about 1,250 U.S. colleges and universities offer entrepreneurship courses, according to professor George Solomon at George Washington University, who tracks entrepreneurship programs.

To teach the subject properly, it helps to have access to company builders. Students need hands-on experience, whether in the form of an internship, a class consulting project, or simply a face-to-face conversation with someone who has started and run a business. Many of the new university programs that help entrepreneurs are really geared to giving students direct experience with growth companies.

For CEOs such developments mean that universities are offering more support and resources to young businesses than ever before. We've profiled some of the most intriguing and unusual new programs here. To find out what's available, you have to ask. But it's even trickier than that; you also have to make yourself desirable. Before you start dialing, see "The First Day of School," below, for the best way to proceed.

The payoff? Just ask Darryl Brown, Howard Leventhal, or Kathy Zelenock. The University of Chicago's Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneurship incorporated Brown's business, drew up a nondisclosure agreement to protect his recipe, and reviewed contracts for him, as well as helped him write a business plan and apply for grant assistance. While Tasty Delite is not yet profitable, Brown's mix is now on supermarket shelves in 26 states.

The digital-file technology that Leventhal acquired from the University of Miami dovetailed precisely with BitzMart's existing offering, he says. Leventhal gave up a sizable chunk of his company -- 25% -- to acquire the technology through Utek but says that it was well worth it. "Frankly, it's evolved into the entire proprietary basis of our company," he says. With 12 employees, Chicago-based BitzMart is now beginning to license its software to large technology companies.

And for Zelenock, the $100,000 in venture funding that she got from the University of Michigan's Wolverine Venture Fund was just the beginning. That initial contact gave her entrée into other university offerings. Most notably, through a business-school internship program, Zelenock enlisted the help of six M.B.A. students full-time for seven weeks on marketing issues for e-Cognita. "We got resources that we would never be able to afford as a start-up," says Zelenock. "Every investor offers support and assistance, but this has been far and away the most valuable in that respect."

Emily Barker is a former senior staff writer at Inc.

The First Day of School

 PREV  1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5  NEXT 

Sign-up for our Innovation Newsletter

Email Address: