The Epics Entrepreneurship Initiative: Combining Engineering And Management To Improve Entrepreneurship Education And Practice

The Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) Program at Purdue, working in partnership with Purdue's Discovery Park and Krannert School of Management, has launched the EPICS Entrepreneurship Initiative. The initiative provides opportunities for the more than 300 students currently enrolled in EPICS to: (1) Learn about entrepreneurship and the management of intellectual property in the context of the products they develop at the request of service and education organizations in the local community; (2) Obtain assistance from programs within Purdue’s Krannert School of Management if they are considering the commercialization of the products they have developed. As one step in the evaluation of the commercial potential of the products they have designed and developed, the EPICS teams are encouraged to participate in entrepreneurship competitions, including Purdue’s annual $100K Burton Morgan Entrepreneurship Competition. The EPICS Entrepreneurship Initiative at Purdue is a model for similar initiatives that could be created at the 9 other universities that also have EPICS programs.