Entrepreneurship

With interest in startups on the rise, the Entrepreneurship Club is one of the hottest organizations on campus. The club provides a forum for students to share stories of success and failure; develop new connections with classmates and members of the faculty; meet business professionals from the business community, such as Ray Berry, founder and CEO of White Lion Craft Beer; and learn the value of relationship building.

The club manages the University's Elevator Pitch competition; business card event; and Bread Talks, a series of talks by local entrepreneurs. The Entrepreneurship Club thrives on networking and collaboration in order to bring the newest ideas and strategies to the forefront.

Monday Mentors is a new program that offers students the opportunity to network, seek advice, and discuss career goals with Western New England alumni and local business professionals in a personal setting. Dress is business casual.

In the business world, engineers and business professionals work collaboratively to develop ideas and bring them to the marketplace. At Western New England University we put our engineering and business students in the same class, the Product Development and Innovation course, where they learn how their roles will intersect. Student teams are challenged to create a new product, through a simulated work environment. Our teams have competed at the annual American Society of Mechanical Engineers Innovation Showcase (IShow) and placed in the top 10 four times. To date, students have been awarded more than $33,000 from the Grinspoon Spirit Awards for their entrepreneurial ideas.

The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship offers a variety of programming of interest to future entrepreneurs at Western New England University. By utilizing workshops, academic programs, and our popular Speaker Series, the Center fosters entrepreneurial thinking across our Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business, Engineering, and Pharmacy, and our School of Law. The Center also assists small businesses and entrepreneurial start-ups in the Pioneer Valley with professional services and informational and educational resources.

Each fall, Western New England University hosts a 3 Day Startup (3DS) event, a 72-hour learning-by-doing campus workshop that teaches entrepreneurial skills to university students in an extreme hands-on environment. 3DS is an organization that that helps campuses organize entrepreneurial workshops to provide their students experience in creating a start-up company. Undergraduate and graduate students in all majors are invited to participate in the Western New England University event at which local entrepreneurs serve as mentors and judges.

3DS provides our students with resources and knowledge to not only create a foundation for a business, but to also build on their success. Many participants pursue their ideas beyond 3DS weekend and have created their own companies and products.