As part of the National Science Foundation funded Partners for Innovation program, the university is using its unique expertise and capabilities combined with those of the community partners to create an infrastructure to stimulate innovative learning and knowledge flow, as a means of encouraging economic activity, creation of new wealth, and social well being in the Triad area.  This program links Wake Forest University to two major regional initiatives in the Piedmont Triad: the life-science (biotech, medical devices, and related imaging and information sciences); and the design innovation initiative for entertainment, life science, education, product design, and product marketing.  The program also links students and faculty in a campus-wide initiative in renewable energy and environmental sustainability.  For more information, contact Dr. Betsy Gatewood (gatewoej@wfu.edu).

The goals of the program are to:

• Create transformational learning opportunities for students interested in exploring entrepreneurship;
• Enhance entrepreneurship training and experiential learning opportunities for students within the liberal arts;
• Facilitate access to knowledge and resources that will enhance the entrepreneurial learning experience through the development of meaningful and sustainable partnerships between industry and academia;
• Communicate our vision to the greater community of liberal arts institutions and other higher education institutions;
• Serve as a connecting link to two major economic development initiatives (Life Science and Design Innovation) of the Piedmont Triad Region of North Carolina; and
• Create a structure and process that facilitates and sustains these outcomes.

The Program has six major components:

• Innovative curriculum;
• Mini-courses/Workshops/Speaker Events to provide students from WFU and other regional higher education institutions training in entrepreneurial skills, creativity, leadership, and industry-specific knowledge;
• The Mentor Program to match students in the WFU entrepreneurship program with local entrepreneurs to expand experiential learning and create stronger ties with the local community;
• The Liberal Arts Models Development to focus efforts on discovering, developing, and disseminating a more comprehensive understanding of successful educational models of venture creation, planning and implementation in liberal arts domains;
• The Market Research, Prototyping, and Planning initiative to provide WFU students with modest financial resources to explore the feasibility of new venture ideas; and

• The Experiential Learning Internships/Externships to provide undergraduate and graduate students with the opportunity to expand in-class learning with hands-on exposure to the entrepreneurial process.

Betsy Gatewood
Research Professor and Director, NSF Partners for Innovation
gatewoej@wfu.edu

Dr. Gatewood led Wake Forest's efforts to instill entrepreneurial thinking and action across campus. Previously, she was the Jack M. Gill Chair of Entrepreneurship and Director of The Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Indiana University. Prior to her role at Indiana University, Dr. Gatewood was the Executive Director of the Gulf Coast Small Business Development Center Network, an organization providing training and consulting services to entrepreneurs and small business owners in the greater Houston region. Dr. Gatewood also founded and served as director of the Center for Business and Economic Studies at the University of Georgia.

In 2004 Entrepreneur magazine named Dr. Gatewood one of the top ten entrepreneurship center directors in the country. She has written more than 80 articles, book chapters and monographs on entrepreneurial processes, women entrepreneurs and economic development. She is also a past recipient of the Academy of Management's Advocate Award for outstanding contributions to the field of entrepreneurship.

Dr. Gatewood is a member of the Diana project, a research study of women business owners and equity capital access. In 2007, the Diana project members won the FSF-NUTEK Award, a prestigious international award given annually in recognition of outstanding entrepreneurship and small business research. Dr. Gatewood is a graduate of Purdue University where she earned a bachelor's degree in psychology. She received her masters in business administration and her doctorate from the University of Georgia.