NC State solidified support of its entrepreneurial community with the grand opening of the Innovation Hall on Centennial Campus, which will take place September 2. Innovation Hall is in Wolf Ridge apartments and contains the Albright Entrepreneurs Village and the new EI Garage.
Andy Albright and his wife were the donors and the namesake behind Innovation Hall. Albright said he is an entrepreneur and an NC State graduate. Megan Greer, the director of Communications and Outreach, said Albright backs the student entrepreneurial community so much because he has always had an interest for entrepreneurship.
Albright Entrepreneurs Village is both the first village on Centennial Campus and the first named village at NC State.
The grand opening of Innovation Hall will be open to the entire campus and community. It will include remarks from the chancellor, a ribbon cutting, showcases from entrepreneurs and apartments that are opened for viewing.
Geoff Milburn, the Technical Garage Assistant and a junior in business administration, called the growing wave of entrepreneurs a “fad.”
According to Greer, it is important to teach students about entrepreneurship.
“We are beginning to realize the importance of teaching students to have an entrepreneurial mindset and how to apply this to whatever career path they choose,” Greer said.
Greer also said students need to learn they have a “third-pathway,” meaning that there are options other than simply a degree and then finding a job—students have the option to become job creators.
Greer attributed the recent rise in entrepreneurship to the current state of the economy. She recognized that people are realizing the importance of being job creators rather than relying on the whims of a hiring manager or working at the same company for 30 years.
Greer explained that it is important to be “nimble, flexible and a ‘jack-of-all-trades’” in the modern workforce. According to Greer, students need to learn what she calls the “entrepreneurial spirit”, and skills that they can apply to whatever career students choose.
“The entrepreneurial spirit is really pervasive in our culture right now,” Greer said. “People are realizing that they have the power to create their own luck and their own destiny through entrepreneurship.”
According to Greer, Innovation Hall further solidifies NC State’s engagement for being a place for entrepreneurship and innovation.
“Innovation Hall represents NC State’s commitment to being a hub for entrepreneurship and innovation and now we have a facility that is dedicated to being a living and learning place where student entrepreneurs can work together and create,” Greer said. “This is really exciting to us.”
The Raleigh area is proving to be a hub for entrepreneurs as well. The Entrepreneurial Initiative, Innovate Raleigh, has encouraged community leaders to fill the need of the new emergent entrepreneurial startup scene. Greer added that community leaders have stepped up to fill this need with new organizations such as HQ Raleigh, a workspace for real-world entrepreneurs, and Think House, a living community structured to cater to post-graduate entrepreneurs.
“Programs like this really help bridge the gap between graduating and going out in the real world and pursuing entrepreneurship” said Greer.
The EI garage at Innovation Hall will more than double in size with the new opening. Greer said students can expect more room to work and more small-group workspace that students can use as an office to meet with potential clients and investors.
Additionally, in the new workspace, village members will have free access to 3-D printers, a ShopBot, a laser cutter and prototyping tools. Students will have the resource of constant collaboration with students across all disciplines and community office hours where patent attorneys are available as an additional resource for students. There will also be a lot of programming for village and garage members that will provide a multitude exposure to the entrepreneurial mindset, including a speaker series.
Milburn said the student network available at the EI Garage is particularly appealing as well as the 24 hour, 7 days a week access.
“Students will be eating, sleeping and breathing entrepreneurship,” said Greer. “They will be constantly presented with opportunities to make their ideas a reality.”
Students across all majors and disciplines are welcome to become members of the Albright Entrepreneurship Village and the EI Garage.
“Everything we do is interdisciplinary; the resources we offer are for students across all academic disciplines,” Greer said. “We are really a melting pot, students that are working together and melding together different sets of skills, are making something much stronger than the isolation of working with students of the same discipline. That is really important to us.”
Village members must fill out housing applications as well as a supplemental application that asks several questions about prior involvement with entrepreneurship.
