Building a Great Entrepreneurial University

Abstract

On April 4, 2017, the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship brought together entrepreneurial leaders from campus, the community, and other states to discuss Building a Great Entrepreneurial University. After reflecting on the University of Colorado Boulder’s (“CU”) progress in entrepreneurship over the past decade, participants considered what future opportunities could be spearheaded by the recently launched campus-wide Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative. The participants were united on the essential importance of developing an entrepreneurial mindset among students, faculty, and staff. Amidst the world’s rising complexity and uncertainty, CU must prepare all students - from those majoring in the humanities to the sciences - for a future where students must adapt to repeated changes to their jobs and careers. Notably, to thrive in today’s world of accelerated technological change, students, faculty, and staff need to develop a set of core competencies, including grit, resilience, adaptability, collaboration, creativity, and a willingness to take initiative (as well as learn from trial and error problem solving). The roundtable focused on how CU can enable students to develop their innate entrepreneurial capacity. To do so, Zach Shulman of Cornell University and Troy D’Ambrosio of the University of Utah explained, CU needs to provide forums for exploration, iteration, and failure. This report provides a strategic framework for fostering such forums.