This Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) project will support a partnership between academia, government, and an entrepreneurial network to develop a model program for encouraging innovation in liberal arts institutions using creative local partnerships and new methodologies. The collaboration within the partnership will take advantage of the unique expertise and capabilities of the partners to create an infrastructure that will stimulate innovative learning and knowledge flow. Included in the model program will be a full spectrum of coursework, activities, and academic programs designed to teach and reinforce the concepts of innovation and entrepreneurship.
This model program has the potential to show that investment in liberal arts disciplines might provide economic benefits not previously realized because the goals of a liberal arts education encourage students in the very behaviors required to be successful in the entrepreneurial process; namely, to think analytical and creatively and to solve complex problems. The technologies that are the building blocks for ventures are often the products of liberal arts departments. The program is interdisciplinary and will address both the philosophy of liberal arts education and the nature of entrepreneurship, thereby benefiting the full diversity of the student body including underrepresented groups. If successful, the program could provide a model for fostering entrepreneurship at liberal arts colleges and universities across the country.
Partners include Wake Forest University (lead institution); Calloway School of Business and Accountancy (Wake Forest University; Angell Center for Entrepreneurship in the Babcock Graduate School of Management (Wake Forest University); University of North Carolina- Greensboro; Winston-Salem State University; Center for Design Innovation, an inter-institutional research center; Greater Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce; Idealliance, a non-profit community of education promoting academic, industry, and government collaboration in emerging businesses; Inception Micro Angel Fund; North Carolina Biotechnology Center; North Carolina Small Business and Technology Development Center; Piedmont Angel Network; and Piedmont Triad Entrepreneurial Network.
