Building Entrepreneurship and Economic Development at EPSCoR's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

Alabama A&M University, Normal AL

Investigators

Abstract

This workshop grant by Alabama Agricultural & Mechanical University and its Center for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Economic Development is aimed at providing strategies and best practices to enhance research competitiveness and economic development at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) by strengthening STEM innovation capacity and capability. While HBCUs play an important role in training black professionals, few are research-focused and thus, few are engaged in innovation and entrepreneurial development. To address this low level of entrepreneurship and innovation at HBCUs, the project aims to engage 44 HBCUs across eight EPSCoR jurisdictions, along with the broader academic and industry community working on STEM innovation entrepreneurship. The project anticipates that employing HBCUs as a source of diverse entrepreneurial innovators will provide a wider network of valuable resources, thereby enhancing scientific and technological knowledge and increasing the national pipeline of enabled, well-trained technology entrepreneurs. The overall goal of this workshop is to engage the current 44 HBCUs in eight EPSCOR jurisdictions working on STEM innovation and entrepreneurship as well as the broader academic and industry-related STEM community, to provide a platform for discussion of best approaches, activities, and implementation strategies to develop these campuses into high-performing resources of STEM innovation and entrepreneurship. The focus of the workshop is to (1) create a platform for building approaches for broadening participation, grounded in learning and social science research, to develop and advance participation of HBCUs in the nation's science and engineering innovation enterprise; (2) inform and engage various stakeholders, including HBCUs, government, and industry, in building diverse STEM communities of innovation and lead to promising strategies, models, and technologies for broadening participation of HBCUs in the current innovation and entrepreneurship space; and (3) deliver sustainable learning activities designed to expand the development of entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship programs and courses at HBCUs that encourage innovation and complement current EPSCoR investments and interest in broadening participation. The intent of the workshop is to demonstrate novel and effective strategic approaches for inclusiveness in science and engineering innovation that can be adapted and replicated nationally by HBCUs. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.