We are pleased to announce that the Kern Family Foundation has awarded a grant of $1,322,500 to the Entrepreneurship Program at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Under the leadership of Dr. David Pistrui, Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Coleman Foundation Chair in Entrepreneurship, the Entrepreneurship Program at IIT will use this grant to create and support a student-centered flagship curriculum, the Kern Innovation and Entrepreneurship Academy (KIEA). Click here to download a brochure about KIEA.
25 undergraduate engineering students have been selected to participate in the first year of the KIEA program. Students selected for this prestigious program will:
- Earn a minor in entrepreneurship
- Participate in a yearly field trip
- Have the potential to earn up to $4500 in scholarships
- Gain access to resources including faculty mentoring, the Jules F. Knapp Entrepreneurship Center, the University Technology Park, and entrepreneurial experts
- Be part of a select network of entrepreneurs, CEOs, and civic leaders
- Drive innovation and ultimately change the world for the better
KIEA will address the urgent need for the engineer for the 21st century and will transform undergraduate education. We offer our sincere gratitude and appreciation to the Kern Family Foundation for their generous support.
The Entrepreneurship Program at IIT strives to foster an entrepreneurial mindset among the students, faculty, alumni, and business and civic organizations that make up the IIT community. With our solid knowledge of the principles of entrepreneurship and our capability to apply that knowledge within multiple fields and across multiple disciplines, we are creating businesses and actively participating in today's economy.
Through the generous support of the Coleman Foundation and the Kern Family Foundation, the development of entrepreneurship education at IIT over the last several years has produced solid results. The KEEN Industrial Entrepreneurship Initiative has developed into an important demonstration model on how business and engineering colleges can work together to build new and innovation curriculum offerings. The Coleman Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Initiative has helped us attract students, engage faculty, and advance entrepreneurship education at IIT.
In the past three years, 719 students have taken an entrepreneurship course at IIT. Students have participated in extracurricular activities on campus and at the regional and national level. Our student organization, the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Academy, continues to grow and attract students from all fields. IEA recently earned the Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization's Best Chapter Business Award for their on-site business card business and the E-Diffusion Award for building entrepreneurship across campus. Our students have won the $25,000 grand prize at Northwestern University's 'Entrepreneur Idol' pitch competition, the Young Innovator's Award at the Chicago Innovation Awards, the Microsoft Technology Pioneer Award at the University of San Francisco's International Business Plan Competition, and first place at the Idea to Product Regional Competition.
IIT's educational history has always included a focus on fostering innovation and harnessing the creativity of its students and faculty. The university understands the importance of practical preparation for entrepreneurs. The Entrepreneurship Program at IIT teaches students how to create companies and grow existing enterprises, provides students with the knowledge of key factors central to successful technology commercialization and company formation, and equips students with the skills and resources that they will need as entrepreneurs.
Dr. David Pistrui
Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Coleman Foundation Chair in Entrepreneurship
Illinois Institute of Technology