ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The University of Central Florida (UCF) I-Corps program will proudly welcome the co-founder and leader of the Lean Startup movement on Thursday, January 29th for two events in Orlando. Jerry Engel, Ph.D. will make special appearances at UCF’s campus and at an industry mixer/reception in downtown Orlando, in partnership with Canvs, Starter Studio and Orlando Tech Association, as part of the official launch and debut of the UCF I-Corps program.
UCF Campus Event
Thursday, January 29th
Networking lunch: 12pm - 1:30pm
Live Oak Event Center at UCF Campus
Who’s Invited: Students, Faculty and Community
Event is Free!
Register at http://bit.ly/1zR4ub4
Industry Mixer/Reception
Thursday, January 29th
5:30pm - 8pm
Canvs (Exchange Building) – located at 101 S. Garland Ave., Orlando, 32801
Who’s Invited: Aspiring Entrepreneurs, Industry Mentors
Event is $10 per person (after January 15, rate is $15 per person)
Register at http://bit.ly/1Dbp0qm
The Lean Startup movement promotes a non-traditional classroom approach to entrepreneurial learning. This hand-on methodology requires students to propose and test their hypotheses in “real world” scenarios. Industry mentors review findings with students, helping them make appropriate adjustments to their innovation and/or launch plan in preparation for bringing their ideas to market. Lean Startup emphasizes engagement and experiential study.
“We consider it a great privilege to welcome Jerry Engel to Central Florida,” says Ivan Garibay, Ph.D., Program Director for UCF I-Corps. “Having the co-founder and leader in the Lean Startup movement here to spend time with students, faculty, aspiring entrepreneurs and industry leaders is an incredible opportunity. We look forward to learning from him as we develop and shape our own I-Corps program.”
For more information or to RSVP for either event, please visit http://icorps.cie.ucf.edu or call Ivan Garibay at ivan.garibay@ucf.edu or via phone at 407-882-1163.
About UCF I-Corps
UCF has been selected by the National Science foundation (NSF) to provide Florida’s first implementation of one of the agency’s flagship programs, an I-Corps Site. The I-Corps Site’s purpose is to foster innovation among faculty and students, promoting regional coordination and linkages in the innovation ecosystem, as well as develop a National Innovation Network. The primary goal of NSF I-Corps is to provide University scientists and researchers the program, process, and resources to investigate and validate the commercialization of their science. UCF has one of the nation’s best innovation and entrepreneurial networks and is one of 15 universities nationwide that is leading an I-Corps Site program. The UCF I-Corps program is administered by the university’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE), a department that consolidates and coordinates UCF’s major innovation and entrepreneurship support activities. Details visit Icorps.cie.ucf.edu.
About Jerry Engel
Jerome “Jerry” Engel, Ph.D. is a leader in the Lean Startup movement. Collaborating closely with Steve Blank, chief architect of the Lean LaunchPad method, he helped develop the curriculum and co-authored the LaunchPad Educators Guide. He has taught the Lean LaunchPad at U.C. Berkeley and across the U.S. as National Faculty Director of the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program, which has trained over 300 teams of the nation’s leading scientists. Internationally he is supervising programs in Asia and Europe. Additionally, as Faculty Director of a highly rated faculty development program in the U.S., conducted a Berkeley, Stanford and Columbia, he has trained several hundred faculty in the method. Professor Engel is a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the 2010 recipient of the NCIIA - Olympus Corporation Lifetime of Educational Innovation Award.
About the UCF CIE:
The University of Central Florida Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (UCF CIE) is a university wide program consolidating and coordinating major innovation and entrepreneurship support activities with the objectives of: Education, Research and Outreach. Its goal is to leverage university and regional partnerships to create an effective entrepreneurial support infrastructure in the Central Florida Region, with a mission to promote innovation, wealth creation, and economic vitality. The UCF CIE programs include: Florida Small Business Development Center at UCF, GrowFL, UCF Business Incubation Program, UCF Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, UCF Office of Technology Transfer, and the UCF Venture Accelerator Connect at cie.ucf.edu.
