Entrepreneurship

In the College of Engineering, innovation is at the very core of our teaching and research culture and continues to produce benefits for the Wisconsin economy and beyond. Our entrepreneurial faculty and staff conduct collaborative, multidisciplinary research in myriad fields, including energy, the environment, nanotechnology, healthcare and medicine, among many others. Based on their research, College of Engineering faculty and staff have logged more than 100 patent disclosures annually for the past decade. In the 2009-2010 academic year, engineering patent disclosures accounted for nearly one-third of all UW-Madison disclosures to the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, the university’s technology-transfer organization.

Faculty and staff aren’t the only innovators on campus. In fact, many of our students have invented products and founded companies based on their inventions. We approach innovation as a talent that can be taught and developed in students.

In the College of Engineering and throughout the university, students can take advantage of many opportunities to develop as inventors and hone their business savvy. These opportunities range from free lectures, for-credit courses and certificate programs to competitions that yield prizes of as much as $50,000—plus access to resources such as entrepreneurial mentors, a small-business development center, investment networks, and patenting assistance. Read about some of the people and programs that drive our entrepreneurial campus culture.

Related links:

• Innovation Days
• Qualcomm Wireless Innovation Prize
• Tong Prototype Prize
• Tong Biomedical Engineering Design Awards
• G. Steven Burrill Business Plan Competition
• Climate Leadership Challenge
• Entrepreneurship and Strategic Innovation Certificate Programs
• Entrepreneurial Residential Learning Community
• Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
• Wiscontrepreneur
• Entrepreneurs’ Resource Clinic, Wisconsin Institutes of Discovery Town Center
• Initiative for Studies in Transformation Entrepreneurship, or INSITE, the UW-Madison guide to all things entrepreneurial