NJIT Educates Next Generation of Tech Entrepreneurs
Found your own company and be your own boss upon graduation? Unthinkable?
Not any more.
In this day and age, founding a startup is a viable alternative to working as an employee in an existing company. Especially in the burgeoning tech sector. Especially in the exciting New York region. All you need is a sound business idea, some good technology to support it, a talented team and a small pot of money to get you to that first prototype.
Is it really that easy? Not quite. What does it take?
Focus. Drive. Ambition. Passion. Creativity. These are the character traits of a successful entrepreneur.
But how do you empower budding entrepreneurs — who are still students — with everything else needed to turn a technological idea into a successful business?
Show them how it’s done.
We will. We’re building a program for Ying Wu College of Computing student entrepreneurs of all levels to develop their own ideas and jumpstart their own ventures.
This fall, we’ll combine academic study with venture creation through our new Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Program. Led by serial entrepreneur Suresh Kumar, the program will add an important new dimension to the college’s tradition of innovation and acquiring practical knowledge through hands-on, cooperative and experiential education. Students will undergo a semester-long, workshop-type experience leading them through all the steps of the venture creation process, taught and mentored by a network of seasoned entrepreneurs from the N.Y./N.J. region. Part of the experience will be developing their own venture, which could possibly be spun off into the real world after the course ends.
Complementing the existing program operating at the university level, the college program will focus on software and information technology-oriented ventures, covering methodologies and approaches tailored to that specialty. The program will take full advantage of NJIT’s Enterprise Development Center (EDC), New Jersey’s largest technology and life science business incubator, as an important resource. EDC houses close to 90 companies, most of them local startups, employing over 700 people, including NJIT students and alumni.
This article kicks off a regular column that will focus on innovation and entrepreneurship, highlighting the entrepreneurial pursuits of our students, alumni and faculty. Building on stimulating learning experiences and invaluable opportunities to interact with the local tech sector, we’ll continue to expand our outreach to the world outside the campus. This includes cultivating a fertile ground for our students who aspire to solve important problems, improve our world and invent the future.
Stay tuned!
Craig Gotsman
Dean, Ying Wu College of Computing
