UW gets $5M to extend entrepreneurship

Madison, Wis. - In an effort to spur entrepreneurship in a broader range of students, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation has named the University of Wisconsin-Madison as one of its eight "Kauffman Campuses," and the university has received $5 million to help train students in entrepreneurship.

The Kauffman Foundation launched the campus initiative in 2004 to bring entrepreneurship education to a wider range of students and extend the reach of technology transfer.

UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley said the university's designation as a “Kauffman Campus'” provides an opportunity to broaden teaching, research, and outreach. The university will use the grant to spur greater research commercialization statewide, with partnerships across the University of Wisconsin System.

As part of the initiative, entrepreneurial education programs would be targeted to central city communities in Milwaukee. It also would establish a program on entrepreneurship through the city's Urban Entrepreneur Partnership.

In addition, UW-Madison will work with the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery to establish internships for students interested in research commercialization, and a seed grant program will be set up to promote translational research. The initiative should spark greater research commercialization statewide, particularly in “high-tech, high-wage fields," according to Gov. Jim Doyle.

Other winning campuses include: Arizona State University, $5 million; Brown University, $2 million; Carnegie Mellon University, $3 million; Georgetown University, $3 million; New York University, $1 million; Purdue University, $1.5 million; Syracuse University, $3 million; and the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, $2 million.

Related stories

• University, business leaders convene in Wausau

• Geoff Bastow: Web-centric entrepreneurs find models that attract investment

• UW-Madison enters Kauffman grant competition