So we have the resources, there is a market need, and we can attract students who want to do research and teach. IU is one of only six institutions in the world to offer a formal entrepreneurship Ph.D. program. Wimbush says the program hopes to attract about four students a year, which will keep the classes small and the quality high. Operated through the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, business plan competitions are in their fourth year. Undergraduate contestants submit written business plans and present their ideas before a panel of professionals.
Winners receive monetary prizes, and some of the plans are put into action as new companies.
The MBA competition extends to the regional and national levels. Carrie Stout, a senior entrepreneurship major from Indianapolis, won last spring's undergraduate competition with her plan called Relaxation Station. The concept involves putting a chair massage at locations where people are on the move, like airports and travel centers. Stout says the competition helped her in a number of ways, including helping her to land an internship at CID Equity Partners, a venture capital firm in Indianapolis. It gives you a way to go ahead and use what you've learned in a different setting.