A lot of people ask me exactly how the UNCW Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) fits into the bigger picture at UNCW. This is actually a very important question. UNCW has taken a true “best practices” approach to its mission.
 
At most universities, four important functions have been identified. First, universities need to be involved in technology transfer, which is the process of transferring university-based scientific findings to the commercial sector. Second, there needs to be a function to encourage innovative and entrepreneurial behavior within the university community. Third, universities have developed brick-and-mortar incubators where early stage firms can locate and share resources; and fourth, universities offer entrepreneurship-related education for the regional community through events and training in the different skill areas required for successful early-stage business development. All of these functions ultimately assist in economic development, solving social problems, and creating jobs.
 
Unfortunately, at most universities these four functions have grown up independently, located on different parts of campus, run by different directors, and not talking to each other – the classic “silo” mentality.
 
Not at UNCW. While other universities are desperately trying to break down the “silos,” UNCW has formally integrated all of these functions under the Office of Innovation and Commercialization (OIC).  This “best practices” approach provides a much more seamless process of moving between the critical stages of “ideation” to “scalability” to “commercialization” to “regional economic development” – a key function of the UNCW mission. The CIE plays an important part of this exciting and highly flexible strategy.
 
To implement this, there are three core components of the CIE’s strategy that help support the university’s economic development mission. First is to share physical, virtual and human resources; the CIE has office space for scalable early stage firms, there is a co-working space, and advisers are available to discuss any possible issue an early stage or small businesses might have. The local SBA office is now located in the CIE, and the Small Business Technology and Development Center (SBDTC) is the CIE’s neighbor. This is by design.
 
Second the CIE offers a variety of events, speakers and training programs for local entrepreneurs on topics ranging from lean startups to venture financing to employee development to legal issues. And we are reaching out to the regional high schools with the CIE’s inaugural “Chancellor's High School Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition” to be held this spring.
 
Third, the CIE is taking a close look at the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem, and going even deeper into those areas where we can have a major impact on the local economy. In this respect, the CIE is organizing its resources – human and hardware/software management – to become the “go to” organization for IT solutions to assist local early stage firms. In the modern world, solving a problem often requires coding, an “app,” program development or database management. UNCW has great skills in this area.
 
Another targeted area is aquaculture. North Carolina has great, but so far unmet, potential in this area. The CIE is developing programs in the business side of aquaculture to complement the technical side at UNCW’s Center for Marine Sciences and the CREST Research Park. To view our programs and events, please visit the www.uncw.edu/cie.
 
If you are a regional entrepreneur, inventor, student or UNCW faculty member, please contact me to explore how the CIE might help you make your business idea a reality. You can email me at [email protected], or stop by the CIE on College Road in Wilmington.
 
Craig S. Galbraith, Ph.D. is director of the Office of Innovation and Commercialization and executive director of the UNCW Research Foundation. The CIE is a resource for the start-up and early-stage business community to help diversify the local economy with innovative solutions. For more information, visit www.uncw.edu/cie.