The collaborative student projects will begin this coming fall. Competing teams will investigate innovative wind energy concepts; gain experience designing, building, and testing a wind turbine to perform according to a customized market data-derived business plan; and increase their knowledge of wind industry barriers. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is facilitating the inaugural competition, which will take place in spring 2014.

The DOE Collegiate Wind Competition is designed to reach students from various engineering and business programs to provide them with engaging, real-world project experience as they prepare to enter the workforce.

The theme of the inaugural competition is to design and construct a lightweight, transportable wind turbine that can be used to power small electronic devices. A principal contest involves testing each team’s prototype wind turbine in a wind tunnel under specific conditions. Each team’s business plan and turbine will also be evaluated against other pre-weighted criteria. The third event of the competition will be a team-to-team debate relating to current wind market drivers and issues. Teams will be judged on the members’ understanding of the issues posed to them, their communication of potential solutions, and their ability to promote constructive dialogue.

“Wind energy is one of the fastest-growing electrical energy options in the United States, and the industry requires a skilled workforce with talented people from engineering, business, and communications backgrounds. This competition will help attract students from a wide range of disciplines into this exciting industry,” said DOE’s Wind Powering America initiative National Director Jonathan Bartlett.

This competition is an opportunity for collegiate institutions to showcase student ingenuity and the programs that the students represent. In addition to this national recognition, the turbine from the college or university with the best overall score will be placed on temporary display at the DOE headquarters building in Washington, D.C.

See the Wind Powering Amercia website for more information.

Dr. Neupert provided an overview of the process then turned groups of students and faculty loose to generate a list of clinically relevant problems that could be mitigated or eliminated by a device.  Each group then selected their top three ideas and presented them to the larger audience.

The top nine ideas are currently being evaluated by the iTeams, an interdisciplinary team of graduate students led by Dr. Neupert and the Office of University and Industry Ventures, to provide a preliminary summary of each idea’s business potential. Once this has been completed, the most promising projects will be selected for further refinement and may ultimately provide an enriching experience for senior undergraduate engineering and business student project teams.

This is the second such event, with more planned in the future. The first session held in August of 2011 resulted in one invention disclosure with an additional two projects still in the prototype development process. The goal of these sessions is to tap into the clinical and technical expertise of Boise State University faculty and create a pipeline of device ideas with commercial potential.
If you have questions, or are interested in learning more about these sessions, please contact Kent Neupert or Terri Soelberg.

The Center for Entrepreneurship has consolidated resources from around the Treasure Valley and the state of Idaho for the following entrepreneurial areas:

• Government Resources
• Start-up Resources
• Student Resources

This free online resource is available to provide educational and training solutions across the state via an online network.  This will prove to be an effective, cost efficient way to encourage economic development in the state, particularly the state’s rural areas.

CLICK HERE to visit our new, free online resource center!

Balukoff is the founder of Balukoff, Lindstrom & Co., one of the largest locally owned CPA firms in Boise when he sold it in 1993. Balukoff owned and operated AJ’s Health Clubs before selling them to 24 Hour Fitness in 1998. He currently is part of the ownership group of the Grove Hotel, The Century Link Area and the Idaho Steelheads hockey team. He will speak on entrepreneurship.

OCTOBER 17, 12noon, MBEB1110

Jerry Flynt Founder of Semi Dice Speaking in Entrepreneurship Class Oct. 17th

Jerry will be speaking in Professor Neupert’s Entrepreneurship class,room 1110 at noon on October 17th. Guests to the class are welcome. You won’t want to miss hearing about Jerry’s experiences and how he became so successful.

Jerry will tell you about a rags to riches story that
started with a family tragedy in his teen years.  The family pulled together
and Jerry continued his “experiment” with college.  He experienced an
amazing sequence of life changing events in his early adult years that
eventually led him to use his entrepreneurial instincts to start Semi Dice,
Inc.

Semi Dice has reported a net profit for thirty-six straight years in a high
risk, high technology niche industry.  Once one of nine competitors, the
industry has survived five recessions, the Oil Shortage of 1979, home
mortgage interest rates of 18%, interest rates of 14% and the Military
spending drop after the Reagan years.  Semi Dice is now the largest of the
remaining three suppliers of semiconductor dice devices to the Hybrid
Microelectronic Circuit Industry.  Since 2004 the company has doubled sales
and since 2008 company employment has risen 15% and is more profitable than ever before.

Welcome to the Boise State University Center for Entrepreneurship

VISION : Creating the future through entrepreneurship®

Mission

The mission of the Boise State University Center for Entrepreneurship is to develop, facilitate and encourage entrepreneurship through academic programs, research and community outreach.

Academic Programs

Undergraduate Degree Programs in Entrepreneurship Management: Since 2010, the Department of Management in the College of Business and Economics has offered an undergraduate major in entrepreneurship management.  Depending the courses completed, students graduate with either a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), a Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Bachelor of Science (BS) degree with their major in Entrepreneurship Management.

Graduate Business Studies Programs Electives: The Graduate Business Studies programs, such as the MBA, MS Accountancy or Tax, and MS Finance, regularly offer elective entrepreneurship courses.  Topics include New Venture Creation, Technology Transfer and Commercialization, Opportunity Recognition, and others, such that graduate business students may emphasize entrepreneurship in their graduate studies.

Entrepreneurship Elective Course for all Boise State University students: Recently, all entry requirements were changed to open all graduate and undergraduate entrepreneurship classes to any Boise State student.  As a result, enrollment in entrepreneurship class by students from engineering, sciences and the arts has increased.

Student Directed Angel Capital Investment Fund: Entrepreneurship faculty have been in discussions with local angel capital investment groups about creating a student directed angel capital investment fund, which would allow students to sit at the table with angel investors to learn about the funding process and then invest along the angels in seed stage deals.  The investment fund would come from donations to the College from local angel investors and other benefactors.*

Internship Programs: Students are able to work with local start up and growing business as interns to learn about entrepreneurship first hand.  Also, students are able to work with local angel capital investment groups learning about the start up funding process including due diligence, venture finance and managing growth.

Business Plan Competitions: The Center for Entrepreneurship and College of Business and Economics offer annual business plan competitions open to all Boise State University students.  As part of the competition, students prepare a written business plan and present their plans for evaluation by a panel of entrepreneurs, investors and other business people.  Students are recognized for the Best Written Plan, Best Presentation and Most Viable Business Plan.  Students also compete for the best one minute presentation.  In addition, the best teams from Boise State go on to compete in other national and international business plan competitions, such as the University of Texas at Austin’s Moot Corp, the “Superbowl of Business Plan Competitions.”

Entrepreneurship Club / Collegiate Entrepreneurship Organization: Working with a faculty advisor, the Entrepreneurship Club is a university recognized student organization that brings students interested in entrepreneurship together in a social context to share and learn.

Entrepreneur in Residence: The College of Business launched the Entrepreneur in Residence program in 2010 as a way for experienced entrepreneurs to share their insights and knowledge with students as advisors and mentors.*

Research

Published Research on Entrepreneurship: Boise State COBE faculty regularly publish scholarly research in internationally recognized journals, such as Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and others.

Conference Presentations on Entrepreneurship: Boise State COBE entrepreneurship faculty regularly present their research findings at national and international academic conferences, such as the Babson Entrepreneurship Research Conference, Academy of Management Annual Conference, and the International Small Business and Entrepreneurship Conference.

Community Outreach

Live Case Projects: As part of their entrepreneurship and general business courses, faculty routinely work with local entrepreneurs on issues such as market assessment, product development, venture formation and business plan writing.  These projects provide a real world, hands on way for students to engage with local entrepreneurs and apply their classroom learning to real business situations.

Entrepreneur Speaker Series: The Center for Entrepreneurship hosts a speaker series featuring successful entrepreneurs and other related topics.  The speaker series is open to and promoted to everyone on campus and in the community.*

Student Internships with Entrepreneurial Companies and Angel Capital Groups: The Center for Entrepreneurship and College of Business and Economics works with local companies and angel investment groups to provide student interns benefitting the organizations with assistance and the students with experience.  Example organizations include Boise Angel Fund, Keiretsu Forum, and Inovus Solar.

Entrepreneur in Residence: The Entrepreneur in Residence provides offers successful entrepreneurs that opportunity to touch the lives of students in a positive manner.*

Joint Programs with Idaho Small Business Development Center, Service Corp of Retired Executives, Kickstand and others organizations: The Center for Entrepreneurship works with various organizations on education, training and social networking events on campus and within the community.  These joint projects provide a way for the college and university to be an active contributing member of the local business community.

Technology Commercialization: Faculty affiliated with the Center for Entrepreneurship work with the university’s Technology Transfer Office on commercialization of university inventions, patents and discoveries.  Also, faculty members work with organizations, such as the Idaho National Energy Lab, on technology transfer and commercialization.

Outreach to Idaho High School Students: The Center for Entrepreneurship is in discussion with high schools across the state to promote and foster entrepreneurship among high school students and to recruit outside high school students to Boise State’s entrepreneurship program.*

Online Education and Training Programs: The Center for Entrepreneurship is in discussion with the Idaho Small Business Development Center on ways to provide educational and training solutions across the state via an online network.  This could prove to be an effective cost efficient way to encourage economic development in the state, particularly the state’s rural areas.*