20
January
2015
|
09:42 AM
America/New_York

Fisher College of Business Announces The Ohio State University Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

  • lakecrater.jpg
    In April 2014, researchers flew over a site in southwest Greenland to find that a sub-glacial lake had drained away. This photo shows the crater left behind, as well as a deep crack in the ice. Photo by Stephen Price, Los Alamos National Lab, courtesy of The Ohio State University.
  • map_figure.jpg
    A map of a portion of southwest Greenland. The star marks the location of a drained subsurface lake discovered by Ian Howat of The Ohio State University and his team. Image by Ian Howat, courtesy of The Ohio State University.
  • lake_perspective.jpg
    Researchers at The Ohio State University were creating the highest-resolution maps of the Greenland Ice Sheet made to date, when they discovered a crater, shown here, which had once been the site of a sub-glacial lake. Image made by Ian Howat, using a Worldview image copyright DigitalGlobe Inc.
  • lakecrater.jpg
    In April 2014, researchers flew over a site in southwest Greenland to find that a sub-glacial lake had drained away. This photo shows the crater left behind, as well as a deep crack in the ice. Photo by Stephen Price, Los Alamos National Lab, courtesy of The Ohio State University.
  • map_figure.jpg
    A map of a portion of southwest Greenland. The star marks the location of a drained subsurface lake discovered by Ian Howat of The Ohio State University and his team. Image by Ian Howat, courtesy of The Ohio State University.
  • lake_perspective.jpg
    Researchers at The Ohio State University were creating the highest-resolution maps of the Greenland Ice Sheet made to date, when they discovered a crater, shown here, which had once been the site of a sub-glacial lake. Image made by Ian Howat, using a Worldview image copyright DigitalGlobe Inc.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Fisher College of Business has announced the integration of two of its centers of excellence -- the Center for Entrepreneurship and the Innovation Initiative -- into a single, universitywide initiative: The Ohio State University Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

“Innovation and entrepreneurship are two of the most important aspects of today’s economy and, as such, they represent significant priorities for our college in the ways we prepare tomorrow’s business leaders, advance our thought leadership through research, and engage with the global business community,” said Anil K. Makhija, dean and John W. Berry, Sr. Chair in Business at Fisher.

“Integrating the center and advancing both its capabilities and outreach will further position our college and university as leaders in these ever-evolving, increasingly vital areas of business learning.”

The mission of the center is to provide world-class training in innovation and entrepreneurship through sponsored research for faculty; engagement with corporate partners; and the delivery of best-in-class, trans-disciplinary curricular and extracurricular learning experiences for undergraduate, graduate and executive-level students. The newly revised, universitywide undergraduate minor in entrepreneurship and innovation will play an integral role in the student experience. Plans for the center also include delivery of symposia, programming for corporate members, and the creation of an innovation lab for applied student-learning experiences and corporate engagement on real-world projects.

Michael Bills, executive in residence at Fisher with more than 25 years of private sector and academic experience, will lead the center as its executive director. He will be responsible for its integration and the development of strategic planning and programming, including curriculum and outreach across campus and industries.

“We are excited by the opportunity to work with design, engineering and a cross section of colleges and departments at Ohio State to help students, faculty and corporate partners collaborate on innovation and entrepreneurship challenges of global dimension,” Bills said. “The center will combine the theories, tools and practices of general, social and technology-based entrepreneurship as well as corporate intra-preneurship to help create innovation-based competencies for both individuals and organizations.”

“The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship will play an important role in providing opportunities for discovery, research and student learning,” said Caroline Whitacre, vice president for research at Ohio State. “We are delighted to be partnering with the center and its leadership team in this endeavor.”

Michael Leiblein, associate professor of management and human resources at Fisher, will serve as the center’s academic director and be responsible for curricular development, academic research, the formation of a universitywide academic advisory board, and integration of the Integrated Business and Engineering Honors Program.

Michael Camp, who for the last two years has served as interim director of the Center for Entrepreneurship, will serve as executive director of the Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization (TEC) Institute, which he founded at Fisher in 2011.

The newly integrated Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship will service multiple colleges and departments across the Ohio State campus as well as companies and corporate partners throughout the community and around the world.

About The Ohio State University

The Ohio State University is a dynamic community of diverse resources, where opportunity thrives and where individuals transform themselves and the world. Founded in 1870, Ohio State is a world-class public research university and the leading comprehensive teaching and research institution in the state of Ohio. With more than 64,000 students (including 58,000 in Columbus), the Wexner Medical Center, 14 colleges, 80 centers and 175 majors, the university offers its students tremendous breadth and depth of opportunity in the liberal arts, the sciences and the professions.

About The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business

From business as usual to business unusual, Fisher College of Business prepares students to go beyond and make an immediate impact in their careers through top-ranked programs, distinguished faculty, and a vast network of partnerships that reaches from the surrounding business community to multinationals, nonprofits and startups across the globe. Our students are uniquely prepared and highly sought, leveraging Fisher’s rigorous, experiential learning environment with the resources of Ohio State, a premier research university with 500,000 proud Buckeye alumni.