IC² Institute student and faculty engagement

So far this year, IC² has engaged with 87 students and 30 faculty in 11 colleges at UT Austin.

As an interdisciplinary research unit at The University of Texas at Austin, the IC² Institute is proud to work with students and faculty all across campus and all around the world.

87 UT students from 11 colleges and schools participated in IC² programs in spring and summer 2017.

That number does not include some of our international activities such as our team teaching 21 students from 6 countries at the Peking University Globex Program, or the MCCT master’s program in technology commercialization led by IC² in Nuevo León, Mexico. All told, so far in 2017 the IC² Institute has engaged 198 students from UT and around the world in programs on four continents.

Further, we have actively collaborated in educational and research activities with 30 UT faculty members from nine colleges and schools around campus so far in 2017.

Here are some of the specific ways students participated in IC² Institute programs this year.

• Student researchers were active participants in the IC² Insight to Innovation research program. These awards stimulate research by tenured and tenure-track faculty across UT Austin and promote thought leadership in the disciplines informing entrepreneurship theory and practice. Students also participated at every level in other IC² research projects funded by the Kaufmann Foundation, the State of Texas, and the NSF.
• Students participated in the 2017 Research in Entrepreneurship and Commercialization Challenge (REACH) summer program. In this program, 16 students were taught concepts related to technology commercialization, analyzing the market potential of a specific technology, and designing a social science research project to explore an aspect of commercialization of innovations. Six of these students furthered their research through site visits to Poland, Korea or India.
• IC² Institute commercialization units – the Austin Technology Incubator and Global Commercialization Group – engaged students as interns to help innovators and startups turn their ideas into viable products and services.
• Students investigated innovation and entrepreneurial policy and practice in Japan and Nepal in the LBJ School Policy Research Programs led by Drs. David Eaton and David Gibson.
• Students served as entrepreneurial leads in NSF Innovation Corps Regional and National programs led by the Southwest I-Corps node housed in the IC² Institute and the Office of the Vice President of Research. The I-Corps program supports faculty innovators, entrepreneurial leads and community mentors as they investigate the commercial potential of a product or service emerging from NSF-sponsored research. These investigations yield new technology licensing or startup opportunities.
• Student-led teams formed the core of the Austin Technology Incubator Student Entrepreneur Acceleration and Launch program. SEAL is a two-month accelerator program which offers startups just emerging from universities and other research institutions across the country a market-driven approach to vet the viability of a scalable startup. The program provides industry-specific mentors to identify potential obstacles to scaling and insights on how to potentially overcome those issues. SEAL culminates in Decision Day, where teams announce a Go versus No-Go decision. This year’s program hosted participants from UT and six other universities through competitive Kaufmann Foundation funding.
• Student provided support for administration and operational activities at the IC² Institute where they practice interpersonal skills, organizational activities and support Institute researchers.
• MBA students from the McCombs School of Business met with Indian startups and entrepreneurship leaders in Delhi as part of their international MBA program. The meeting took place at the IC² Institute’s Nexus Startup Hub, a collaboration with the US Department of State. The student group was led by UT Austin Professor Kishore Gawande.

The IC² Institute is energized to engage deeply with The University of Texas at Austin to provide unique educational opportunities for students and faculty through our programs in Austin and around the world.

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