People often forget that the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) is formally part of UNCW and thus plays an integral part in implementing UNCW’s mission, core values and strategic priorities. The mission of UNCW is clear – it is “dedicated to the integration of teaching and mentoring with research and service.” UNCW also talks about its core values, such as “community engagement,” “diversity” and “innovation” with one of its strategic priorities, “to engage with the community and the world, and communicate our efforts broadly and effectively.” These are demanding targets for the CIE, and we take them seriously.
 
As part of the university, a major component of the CIE’s strategy is to offer events, training and educational programs to the regional community, with a particular emphasis on entrepreneurial skills, business knowledge and the informational technology topics highest in demand by early stage and small businesses. This is in addition to all of the CIE’s incubator and mentoring activities.
 
So far this year, CIE has offered more than 20 events attended by a total of almost a thousand participants on diverse topics such as “financing your small business,” “fundraising,” “making innovation and creativity work,”  “law for small business” and a variety of technology-related topics such as “creating mobile apps for small business,” “webpage development,” and “coding for entrepreneurs.”
 
By the end of this year, the CIE will have sponsored more than 60 formal training and educational programs for the local community. This number doesn’t include the groups that use the CIE space for their own events and training programs. Without question the CIE is the region’s largest sponsor of educational and training events for the local entrepreneurial community. As attendees implement the concepts, skills and ideas gained from these events, it most certainly impacts the region’s economy in a positive way.
 
In addition to its traditional focus on entrepreneurial skills and information technology for small business, the CIE is currently embarking on a third path for its events, training and educational strategy – entrepreneurship for the underserved regional community. This strategy is taking many forms. First, the CIE is developing a number of programs around youth entrepreneurship. We just completed our first High School Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition with finalists from Topsail High School, East Columbus High School, Coastal Christian High School, Duplin Early College, and Hoggard High School. Starting in June, the CIE will be sponsoring the “Shark Tank Think Tank” for middle and high school students, and in the fall the CIE is developing a certificate program in teaching entrepreneurship and innovation in high schools. Other youth entrepreneurship programs are in planning stages.
 
The CIE is also developing programs for other underserved communities in the region. A new “developmental entrepreneurship” program will be offered in fall 2016, targeted toward the various minority communities in the region. The CIE is particularly excited about a new program in the works which focuses on entrepreneurship training for ex-felons. About 75 percent of released felons are rearrested within five years, with a major reason cited as lack of employability. The CIE is trying to assist in reducing this recidivism in the local community through entrepreneurship training.
 
Finally, UNCW’s service region extends far beyond the greater Wilmington market. The CIE is doing its part by developing CIE extension services to the outlying counties, with a particular focus on the entrepreneurial needs of less developed, more rural economies.
 
Often people think of an entrepreneurship center as just incubating early stage, technology-based enterprises. The CIE certainly does this, with 33 early-stage firms currently affiliated with the CIE. But as a university-based center, the UNCW CIE has a much broader educational role – a role that not only fits within the overall mission, values and priorities of UNCW, but also has a major impact on the health of the local economy. 
 
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.