WPI is realigning and integrating talents from the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center and in doing so will create two entry points for two distinct yet closely collaborating I&E pipelines:
Students will be supported with programs led by Professor Rosanna Garcia, who joined WPI in 2021 as the Beswick Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in The Business School. Rosanna will lead the efforts to prepare our student entrepreneurs and business creators to seize market opportunities, garner funding for their enterprises, and connect to a wide community of advisors and partners within WPI and the greater Worcester community. To help advance the work of entrepreneurial ideation, The Business School welcomes to the team Kristie DeJesus for her expertise in programs including MakerBucks, TinkerBox, and the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN).
Faculty and Staff will be supported by the new Office of Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OTIE), which will replace the Office of Technology Commercialization. OTIE, led by Director Terry Adams , who joined WPI earlier this year, will focus on all aspects of technology commercialization including intellectual property and licensing as well as technology incubation. The office will expand efforts to help entrepreneurs determine if their idea meets a market need and, if so, support them through the steps to translate inventions and innovative ideas into viable technologies and business models – work that will benefit greatly from the NSF-funded I-Corps program and technology incubator support.
Terry and Rosanna will work collaboratively to engage students, faculty, staff, alumni, and external partners through events such as AMP! (Advisors, Mentors, & Partners), I-Corps, networking, and trainings.