NC State has partnered with HQ Raleigh, a local company that supports startups, and the university’s Entrepreneurship Garage (eGarage) to establish a creative space in Partners I on Centennial Campus in an effort to give students more entrepreneurial opportunities on campus.
According to the NC State Entrepreneurship website, the eGarage is a place where students can go to design, prototype and generally pursue entrepreneurial ideas.
It is currently housed in Centennial’s Innovation Hall, according to Megan Greer, assistant vice provost and managing director of NC State Entrepreneurship.
“Innovation Hall has been our home for five years,” Greer said. “Over the past five years, we have grown our village. We started with about a dozen residents and this upcoming year we will have 170 residents. We will fill this building.”
Greer said that the eGarage will be joining HQ Raleigh in a move to Partners I this upcoming summer, as the garage has outgrown the existing space.
“As entrepreneurship has grown on campus, we just feel like we need more expanded resources,” Greer said. “Also the partnership with HQ Raleigh was really attractive because another one of our goals from the beginning was that we would have a place where students could rub shoulders with real world entrepreneurs.”
HQ Raleigh has been a partner with NC State for some time, as described by Jessica Porta, director of HQ Raleigh. Porta is responsible for establishing strategic partnerships and providing resources to members of the space.
“Basically, when we first moved down to the warehouse, we established the first phase of our relationship, which is having NC State’s entrepreneurship clinic housed at HQ Raleigh,” Porta said.
Porta explained HQ Raleigh’s aim is to bring startup companies in contact with talented students and form connections independent of NC State.
“They take students off campus and they have them work on projects of member companies and the community, so they get direct hands-on experience with startups outside of the university setting,” Porta said. “In exchange, our members get free, talented help on different projects.”
Leah Burton, director of the Centennial Campus Partnerships Office and Industry Alliances, said that NC State has historically fostered a culture of partnering with outside organizations and companies. She and others at her office primarily aim to connect companies and students.
“That whole culture really goes back to the founding of NC State; we were, of course, founded as a land-grant institution with a very specific charter to extend our knowledge outside of the borders of the university,” Burton said. “Centennial campus has really kind of, over the last thirty years, been that next step to extending our knowledge and research outside of NC State.”
Porta hopes that HQ Raleigh’s setup in Partners I will allow more students to be a part of startup projects. HQ Raleigh’s main office is located in west Raleigh, so Porta believes the Partners I will be popular due to its closer proximity to students.
“For the students, I think they’re gonna see more hands on opportunities with startup companies directly on campus,” Porta said. “Transportation has been a barrier even though it’s not that far away.”
The work students are involved with aren’t simply small-scale student projects, as evident by NC State’s Lulu eGames competition, Porta said.
“Right now I’m judging Lulu eGames,” Porta said. “These are incredible companies. It’s not like student projects; these guys could run with these ideas and do really well. In addition to university mentorship and support, they’re gonna get startup entrepreneur mentorship and help.”
Ultimately, Burton said that the goal is to offer an experiential education.
“It’s really not so much about the dollars and cents of what the collaboration is, it’s [about] equipping our students to be better employees or run their companies better,” Burton said.
Porta said that the project is projected to be completed this summer in time for the next school year.
