A summary and insights from trip to US on different models of university innovation and entrepreneurship programs internationally and at Virginia Tech, Harvard and MIT

1. INSIGHTS FROM
US TRIP
AUGUST 2016
creative.uts.edu.au

3. WHO I VISITED
Virginia Tech
• Institute for Creativity, Arts and Technology
• Apex Systems Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
• Innovate Living-Learning Community
Harvard
• Harvard iLab
• Shorestein Institute for Media, Politics and Public Policy (Kennedy School
of Govt)
• Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society

4. AND…
MIT
• MIT Media Lab
• Martin Trust Centre for Entrepreneurship
• MIT Collective Intelligence Centre
• SENSEable City Labs
Code for Boston (part of Code for America)
MassChallenge

5. SOME INSIGHTS
Artwork by Joe Kelley at Virginia Tech Institute for Creativity, Arts and Technology exhibition

6. UNI INNOVATION ENTREPRENEURSHIP
PROGRAMS
Is there a message in here?

7. UNI INNOVATION ENTREPRENEURSHIP
PROGRAMS
- Located in Business, Engineering or under Provost or VC directly
- Range of approaches to entrepreneurship – some very hands on
programs others rely on students to initiate and run with virtual
wallet/points
- Team size range 2-17 some also doing research
- Most funding centrally provided with supplements from faculty
prizes, places or industry places in incubators. US strong alumni,
industry funding
- Harvard and MIT innovations labs open to all students undergrad
and grad can attend courses, events
- Common challenges; gender balance, scaling up quantity without
losing quality, coordinating strategy across university

8. UNI INNOVATION ENTREPRENEURSHIP
PROGRAMS
- US strong alumni networks especially with entrepreneurs. Strong
culture of ‘pay in forward’
- Advisory boards some Deans/senior uni exec, others completely
external alumni/industry others mixed
- Special status for entrepreneurs; flexibility in completing studies,
can do internships in own startups, starters wallet
- Integration of prototyping or mini maker spaces
- Micro business challenges – 3 weeks 10 pounds
- Models staff/researchers spinouts negotiate IP with uni
- Mostly extracurricular. Model of visible and invisible curriculum
- Entrepreneurship as attitude start in early schooling – make it fun

9. VIRGINIA TECH APPROACH

10. VIRGINIA TECH APPROACH
- Live in residential program (2 years)
- Focus on talent development not startups
- Strong alumni entrepreneurship
- Visiting entrepreneurs in residence – 2-3 days living in
- Entrepreneur treks
- Network of Investors, $2m available last year each investor has to commit
$10k
- Network of advisors
- External alumni and industry advisory board
- Support for student startups next steps in adjacent Corporate Research
Centre – whole economic ecosystem around uni

11. HARVARD APPROACH

12. HARVARD APPROACH
- Harvard iLab open drop in/working space for students interested in
entrepreneurship
- iLab began 2011 LaunchLab 2014
- Open to any current student undergrad or postgrad
- Run events, masterclasses, some faculties run their innovation subjects
there
- Accelerator program VIP program each team has a board get up
- Competitions
- LaunchLab ‘curated community’ 30 alumni startups coworking space can
stay up to 2 years
- Large no wealthy donors and alumni
- Deans on Advisory board. ‘One Harvard’ campaign
- Building Living Lab – wet lab for innovation

13. MIT APPROACH

14. MIT APPROACH
- Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship
- Open access space for all students. Workshops, events, hackathons
- GPSA accelerator program. 17 teams each has a board and access to
$20,000 if meet milestones as judged by board. Bill Arlet program
- Final pitches MIT, New York, San Francisco
- Shorter summer program 1 month
- MIT Launch high schools program and free online course
- 4 entrepreneur in residence’s run the programming
- Mix undergrad, grad and PhD
- New team ‘MIT Innovation Initiative’ pulling together coordinated
approach/strategy

15. RESEARCH

16. VT INSTITUTE FOR CREATVITY, ARTS
AND TECHNOLOGY
- Research institutes work across all faculties
- 3 labs including the Cube 4 story immersive 3D space
- SEAD funding rounds - $500 students, $3000 interdisciplinary teams,
$25,000 flagship project plus access to labs and facilities
- Coffee mornings once a week where someone talk about their project
- CubeFest series of events/showcases
- a2ru transdisiplinary research publication/installations etc
- VR collaboration

18. SENSEABLE CITY LABS
Effect digital tech on urban environment and how changes the way people
live in cities

19. SENSEABLE CITY LABS
- Spin out from MIT Media lab
- Funded through research grants and industry
- Consortium model for companies. 3 year commitment set price for seat at
table, access to IP, marketing
- Can sponsor additional research per year for 2 research fellows
- Can’t direct research but can identify challenge or problem
- Have option to commercialise IP through MIT
- Companies Philips, Audi, Uber etc
- Fellowships and student placements

20. MIT MEDIA LAB

21. MIT MEDIA LAB

22. MIT MEDIA LAB

24. MIT MEDIA LAB
- Interdisciplinary research lab founded 1985
- High level autonomy from university thanks to Nicholas Negroponte
- 100% industry funded
- 15 labs each headed by a professor
- Sponsors fund general themes
- Can’t direct research but have access to IP created
- ‘Inventing a better future’ is current theme
- Online courses open to any students internationally, finding collaborators
- Blockchain hacks

25. WHAT IS UTS POINT OF DIFFERENCE
- Strong focus on creative practice and methodology
- Documented ICI strategy
- BCII students – secret weapon
- Social impact/enterprise focus
- Cultural difference more relaxed focus on quality of life
- Lifestyle, beaches, attitude
- Gateway to Asia and significant Asian population for testing/prototyping

26. DIGITAL CIVICS

27. DIGITAL CIVICS
- Collective intelligence Centre – Solve Colab
- New kind of intelligence that scales. How to measure crowd intelligence?
- Govt Singapore – future scanning
- Code for Boston/Code for Australia
- Reinventing media, sustainability fourth estate
- Blockchain identity management refugees, stateless people
- Reinventing public institutions
- Politics is broken – how to fix it?

28. OPPORTUNITIES/IDEAS

29. OPPORTUNITIES/IDEAS
- International student program residential opportunity
- ‘Cluster X’ fund teams for cross disciplinary projects, practitioner/faculty
partnership projects
- Blockchain hack collaboration MIT Media Lab
- a2ru transdisciplinary publishing
- MIT REAP
- Investor networks
- Mapping visible and invisible curricular/student user journeys
- MassChallenge Bridge program in Australia

30. And we won….