Innovation Living-Learning Community

Invention to Venture (I2V)

Idea to Product (I2P)

Silicon Valley Workshop

Lemelson-MIT Illinois Student Prize

Cozad New Venture Competition (CNVC)

VentureLab

TEC Courses & Certi�cates

Entrepreneurs in Residence

The students living in the Innovation LLC are freshman and sophomores interested in innovation and entrepreneurship.

A workshop that teaches technology entrepreneurship and provides a framework for moving ideas forward.

Early-stage technology commercialization plan competition that aims for unique product ideas with clear market demand that use innovative technologies.

Workshop that includes visits with startups and leading technology companies to expose students to firms in various stages of a startup lifecycle.

A $30,000 prize is awarded on an annual basis to a student who has demonstrated remarkable inventiveness.

A competition designed to encourage the creation of new sustainable businesses in the Champaign-Urbana area.

The outcome of this program is a more competitive action plan and provides a set of tools to help grow businesses for years to come.

Designed to add value to an engineering degree by exposing students to commercialization concepts.

Provides students with direct interaction and mentoring from prominent entrepreneurial alumni.

TEC is an interdisciplinary program in the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois engaging a vast pool of faculty, students, and alumni to provide the education, experiences, and resources that students need to become the next generation of world-changing visionaries, leaders and entrepreneurs. TEC has developed a roadmap for students to follow that greatly increases their chances for starting a successful enterprise.

This roadmap begins with the Innovation Living-Learning Community (LLC). The students living in the Innovation LLC are freshman and sophomores interested in innovation and entre-preneurship. The program includes on-site classes and workshops revolving around the themes of creativity, innova-tion, and entrepreneurship.

For those interested in entrepreneurship basics, TEC administers an NCIIA Invention to Venture (I2V) workshop annually that teaches technology entrepreneurship and provides a framework for moving ideas forward.

For students in the idea stage, TEC administers a campus round Idea to Product® (I2P) competition. I2P® is an early-stage technology commercialization plan competition that aims for unique product ideas with clear market demand that use innova-tive technologies. The goals are education and developing the next generation of technology entrepreneurs.

Another program o�ered by TEC and the College of Engineering is the Silicon Valley Workshop. This is a technology entrepre-neurship workshop that includes visits with startups and leading technology companies to expose students to �rms in various stages of a startup lifecycle.

The Lemelson-MIT Illinois Student Prize for $30,000 is awarded on an annual basis to a student who has created or improved a product or process, applied a technology in a new way, redesigned a system, or demonstrated remarkable inven-tiveness in other ways.

For students developing a business, the Cozad New Venture Competition (CNVC) is designed to encourage the creation of new sustainable businesses in the Champaign-Urbana area. The CNVC encourages the development of the entrepreneurial spirit and mindset through teamwork and competition.

*Hundreds of students participate annually in TEC’s Cozad New Venture Competition. One of Cozad’s past winners just received $1 million in funding to further their innovation and change the world in communication services.

Quote from student participant: “We see Cozad as a spring board for future development of our company. We have a lot of really great ideas that are swirling around right now and Cozad and the prizes that we won will allow us to realize some of those ideas.”

For those further along with their innovations, an in-depth NCIIA workshop is o�ered called VentureLab. VentureLab is a highly experiential program developed to enhance the success of business ideas.

In addition, TEC o�ers courses in entrepreneurship and certi�-cates designed to add value to an engineering degree by expos-ing students to business and technology commercialization concepts. An Entrepreneur in Residence program also provides students a glimpse into the entrepreneurship landscape with the reward of direct interaction and advice from prominent entrepreneurial alumni.

By providing this roadmap to entrepreneurship, we are inspiring students to become innovative leaders and empower them to change the world around them.

What types of students participate in TEC’s programs?

Green Light Planet; founded by Patrick Walshhttp://www.greenlightplanet.com/Greenlight Planet is combining cutting-edge technology with innovative distribution networks to commercialize low-power LED lanterns. The new lights are bright, long-lasting, and practi-cal. But more importantly, they are a�ordable enough that villag-ers in places like rural India can purchase them immediately in cash, meaning the technology can pro�tably scale to help hundreds of millions.

Illini Prosthetic Technologies (IPT); founded by Jonathan Naberhttp://www.supportipt.org/IPT is a non-pro�t organization that believes every amputee can have access to a�ordable prosthetic care. Their current focus is to deploy a highly a�ordable and o�-the-shelf prosthetic arm for below-elbow amputees living in developing nations. They seek to partner with various aid organizations which can purchase, distribute, and �t their product to amputees.

IntelliWheels Inc.; founded by Scott Daiglehttp://www.intelli-wheels.com/IntelliWheels Inc. is a startup that created IntelliWheels AGS (short for Automatic Gear-Shift). Packaged as a set of two wheel-chair wheels, IntelliWheels AGS replaces your current wheelchair wheels. IntelliWheels AGS automatically changes gears by sensing how you are pushing your wheelchair. Similar to the way that people ride bicycles, gear shifting can make going up and down hills, over long distances, and over rough terrain more ergonomically e�cient.

*Each year, more than 800 students enroll in TEC’s courses and approximately 2,000 students participate in TEC’s programs.

*Hundreds of millions of people are being impacted daily by projects that began here at TEC.

For more information, please visit tec.illinois.edu.

TEC’S ROADMAP TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP