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February 25, 2020

SHU biz school launches entrepreneurial ‘ecosystem’

PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED Sacred Heart’s new initiative is designed to support student entrepreneurs from SHU and other Connecticut colleges.
By Michael C. Bingham

Sacred Heart University’s Jack Welch College of Business & Technology will team up with private-sector partner Techstars to ramp up a new entrepreneurship ecosystem on the school’s West Campus.

Fueled by a $200,000 seed grant from CTNext and matched by university funds, the new initiative will focus on the development and execution of programs, outreach and growth. The goal of the ecosystem is to facilitate entrepreneurial programming, learning opportunities, networking and partnerships aimed at developing and promoting new student-led and private startup ventures from across the state.

“Our goal is to create a rich and open environment at West Campus — open to university students from across the state — where entrepreneurial skills can be learned and developed and where budding startups can thrive,” said Martha J. Crawford, dean of the Welch school. “Creating an innovation pipeline and new small businesses is critical for Connecticut’s economic growth and well-being.”

Program elements include a full-time coordinator, student entrepreneurial fellows, guest speakers, networking events, competitive challenges and startup weekends held at the iHub, a co-working space located at West Campus and powered by Verizon. The CTNext grant will fund program development through the end of 2020.

Through its new partnership with Techstars, the Welch school will focus on reinforcing and scaling its promotion of entrepreneurship on campus. University students from all Connecticut schools will be invited to participate in startup weekends and other learning opportunities.

Techstars is a global network that assists entrepreneurs with relationship-building, education and access to capital. Techstars helps founders connect with other entrepreneurs, experts, mentors, alumni, investors, community leaders and corporations to grow their companies. The company’s accelerator portfolio includes more than 1,900 companies with a market cap of $25 billion, according to Techstars.

Crawford first worked with Techstars in Boston, where she was a startup mentor while on the faculty of Harvard Business School. She joined SHU last August, shortly after SHU combined its Welch College of Business with its School of Computer Science & Technology to form a single entity — the Jack Welch College of Business & Technology — that Crawford now heads.

“We are excited to be working with Sacred Heart University’s prestigious business and technology college, and to be part of the robust and evolving innovations environment already present on their campus,” said Jenny Lawton, Techstars’ chief innovation officer, in announcing the partnership. “Ventures like this one already are producing successful startup initiatives, collaborations and jobs, as well as attracting serious investors to innovation hubs across the United States and globally.”    

CTNext is an entrepreneurial support program of Connecticut Innovations. To date CTNext has some 3,000 members in its network. 

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