Fostering Entrepreneurship at Universities in the U.S. and Germany

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Developing an entrepreneurial culture, teaching entrepreneurial skills and promoting startup initiatives have become central to the mission of universities on both sides of the Atlantic. University-based entrepreneurship programs typically pursue the following goals:

  • Developing students’ skills in solving global problems through entrepreneurship and innovation
  • Supporting university technology transfer
  • Connecting research and education to emerging industry interests, and
  • Fostering collaboration between universities and their local communities.

Achieving these goals depends on a number of factors, including:

  • Sustained financing
  • The successful creation of innovative ecosystems that are aligned with local/regional development strategies
  • Generating and sustaining an entrepreneurial culture that encourages students and faculty innovation.

This workshop invites professors, administrators as well as entrepreneurially-minded scientists to discuss best practices and challenges in developing successful entrepreneurship programs on university campuses. In four informal thematic sessions, representatives from the U.S. and Germany will give short presentations that will lay the groundwork for the moderated discussion.

Program

9:30 am – Welcome

9:45 am – Session I: Creating successful infrastructures for academic incubators

Jeffrey Babin
Practice Professor and Associate Director, Engineering Entrepreneurship Program, University of Pennsylvania		 Steven Kuyan
Managing Director, Future Labs, Tandon School of Engineering, New York University
Lisa Getzler-Linn
Executive Director, Baker Institute for Entrepreneurship, Lehigh University		 Grant Hoffman (moderator)
Director of Startups, University of Cincinnati

11:00 am – Coffee break and SAP tour

11:30 am – Session II: Teaching entrepreneurial skills and promoting entrepreneurship

Ronald Kriedel
Director, Center for Entrepreneurship and Transfer, TU Dortmund University		 Scott W. Henderson (moderator)
Chief Entrepreneurial Officer, Purdue Research Foundation
Thomas Lechler
Professor, Stevens Institute of Technology, Robert R Shandley
Associate Dean, School of Innovation, Texas A&M University		  

1:00 pm – Lunch

2:00 pm – Session III: Connecting with future markets, IP transfer: Best models

Greg Maskel
Senior Technology Licensing Officer, Columbia University		 Katharina Schultebraucks
NYU School of Medicine
Gerhard Schembecker
Professor, Department of Biochemical Engineering, TU Dortmund University		 Vanessa Liu (moderator)
Vice President, SAP.iO Foundries North America

3:30 pm – Coffee break and introduction of SAP i.O. startups

4:00 pm – Session IV: Helping entrepreneurs find investors and other financial backers

Anne Augusta Blum
Program Manager, German Accelerator New York		 Gerhard Schembecker
Professor, Department of Biochemical Engineering, TU Dortmund University
Kenneth A. Goodwin, Jr.
Senior Managing Principal and President, Jeanensis Capital Markets		 Christian Jorg (moderator)
Serial Founder and Startup Mentor, Ellis Accelerator

5:30 pm – Concluding Remarks

Event Information

June 20, 2019, 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM

New York, NY
Organizer(s): German Center for Research and Innovation (DWIH NY), Hasso Plattner Institute New York (HPI), University Alliance (UA) Ruhr

Location

HPI New York

Address: 10 Hudson Yards, 48th Floor New York, NY 10001