Academic Partnerships

The Karl Eller Center has been a leader among the national and local academic communities in not only the launch of entrepreneurship education offerings outside the business college, but also in increasing entrepreneurial capacity by leveraging a) partnerships with students and faculty of other programs and b) the focus and commitment of the business community to bring tangible synergy to entrepreneurship program curriculum and outcomes.

A few examples of these partnerships include:

• Prototype teams: Engineering teams collaborating with entrepreneurship team on the design of prototypes for entrepreneurship-program-proposed products.
• Accounting teams: Tax consulting teams comprised of accounting graduate students advise and prepare tax papers for entrepreneurship-program-proposed enterprises. Accounting team members also serve as advisory board members.
• Office of Technology Transfer collaboration:
  • Business plans: The development of investment-quality business plans for UA-developed technologies.
  • Feasibility studies: The exploration of fast-track feasibility assessments, determining license or commercial potential of early-stage UA-developed technologies.
  • Memorandum of Understanding: Developed with OTT director and UA Attorney, this agreement provides for information sharing and IP ownership and protection for all parties when developing UA technologies through entrepreneurship students. Business plans are deemed IP of students, and ultimate use must be negotiated between all parties.
• Business Development Finance Center: City of Tucson annually sets aside $250K start-up funding for McGuire graduate, Tucson-based enterprises.
• Arizona Center for Innovation: Tucson incubator guarantees 5 incubator spots every year for McGuire graduate launched enterprise. Includes all incubator services at no charge for 6 months.
• Desert Angels: Deemed one of the most prolific angel groups in the country, the Desert Angels guarantee an automatic review and consideration of all McGuire Program competition winners.
    

To learn more, contact us.