• Skip to Content
  • Skip to Sidebar
IU

Indiana University Indiana University IU

Innovate IndianaNews and information on how IU is driving innovation, entrepreneurship and economic development

Nov. 28 CREED meeting highlighted INfuze Indiana, government relations, IURTC and IU Northwest

Posted on December 6, 2018 by Steve Martin

The Indiana University Council for Regional Engagement and Economic Development, or CREED, hosted its final quarterly meeting of 2018 on Nov. 28 on the IUPUI campus.

Bill Stephan

Bill Stephan, vice president for engagement and CREED chair, shared new developments at the university: David Rubenstein is scheduled to be the winter commencement speaker at IU Bloomington, the next meeting of the IU Board of Trustees will be Dec. 6 and 7 on the IU Kokomo campus, and university representatives will visit the Electric Works site in Fort Wayne before the end of the month.

Kara Kavensky

INfuze Indiana is a storytelling platform that has been used to connect entrepreneurs and venture capitalists throughout the state. Kara Kavensky, co-founder, spoke about the importance of telling the story behind regional engagement, entrepreneurship and economic development.

“Telling the story is crucial. Is there an opportunity to promote a school and its engagement, and how things are structured? The best way to share a story — what a company does or anything else — is to personalize it. What does it mean to the audience?” Kavensky said.

Future INfuze Indiana events will take place Dec. 11 in Evansville; Dec. 12 in Fort Wayne; in January 2019 in Terre Haute and Indianapolis; and on other dates in Bloomington, Lafayette and Hammond.

Trevor Foughty

Trevor Foughty of the IU Office of the Vice President for Government Relations provided an overview of the 2019 legislative session, including some of the bills and budget items that will impact the university.

“Learning about what’s happening at regional campuses is very important to my colleagues and me. We have had a great trip to IU Kokomo, and we’ll soon visit Richmond, New Albany and Gary to visit the IU East, IU Southeast and IU Northwest campuses,” Foughty said. “The university needs to show that we are helping smaller towns by preparing their students for the future workforce.”

Subir Bandyopadhyay
Subir Bandyopadhyay

Subir Bandyopadhyay, professor of marketing and CREED representative from IU Northwest, provided an overview of that regional campus. He said the campus has created a new mission statement that includes community engagement; social, economic and cultural development; and empowering a diverse study body.

“IU Northwest is the most diverse campus in the IU system, and that is a huge positive for us,” he said. “We have nearly 4,000 students, plus 1,500 high school dual-credit students. We have partnered with Ivy Tech for a new building on campus, which is considered a marquee development for the city of Gary. We have established a new School of the Arts, as well as new degree programs and engagement programs.”

Tony Armstrong and Jason Whitney of the IU Research and Technology Corp. provided an overview of the organization’s transformation from managing the technology transfer process for the university — a task now managed by the IU Innovation and Commercialization Office — to its work to provide resources for the university’s faculty and staff innovators and entrepreneurs.

Tony Armstrong

“In February, we launched the Philanthropic Venture Fund, which is a great way to engage alumni with the university,” Armstrong said. “More than 90 investment opportunities have been reviewed, and 12 were presented to the investment committee. Ten, all with IU connections, were approved for investment, and four have been transacted. We have made $1.3 million in investments and commitments already.”

Whitney described The Quarry, a resource for faculty and staff entrepreneurs to find personnel and funding for their startups.

Jason Whitney

“The Quarry was developed to build the foundation for sustainable businesses,” Whitney said. “We have rolled out a concept that has three buckets: business development, funding and talent. We have some SBIR/STTR consultants on staff to help faculty entrepreneurs with the process to apply for those grants. We also recently helped launch Midwest XOR, an online platform to connect talented individuals with startups throughout the member research universities.”

Armstrong and Whitney concluded with a summary about Dimension Mill, an 18,000-square-foot space in Bloomington’s Trades District that has been renovated into a coworking space for local entrepreneurs. IU is one of the major sponsors of Dimension Mill, which has developed a lot of programming for innovators throughout IU, Bloomington and Monroe County.

CREED members approved three Regional Economic Development, or RED, grants.

An award of $1,800 went to IU Southeast for a conference that creates an opportunity for alumni and employers in the community to meet with current students who are interested in working in their areas upon graduation. Workshop sessions will focus on goal-setting; enhancing student networking skills; creating first impressions; and developing connections with alumni in fields such as arts administration, business, education, law, medicine and nonprofit management. The campus will invite 240 students to participate.

A $2,300 grant was awarded to IUPUC to launch an annual community panel discussion titled “Lead by Design: An Inspirational Initiative.” The target market for the 2019 event is a diverse group of community members interested in the importance of diversity to economic development. The entire community is welcome to attend, with targeted groups being the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, Mill Race Center, Columbus Chinese and Japanese Business Association, Rotary Club of Columbus, and United Way nonprofit leaders.

A $1,850 grant was awarded to IUPUI to support public engagement at three entrepreneurship events at SOURCE River West Entrepreneurship Center. The funding will be used to invite business leaders and others to a pitch competition that marks the end of the 10-week Kauffman FastTrac series.

The 2019 CREED meetings are scheduled for Feb. 13, May 22, Aug. 28 and Nov. 6.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Filed under: Economic Development, Engagement, Entrepreneurship, IU Regional Campuses, IU Research & Technology Corporation, Staff, Statewide Engagement

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Additional Content

Innovate Indiana Button

Search Innovate Indiana

About Innovate Indiana

Join us as we highlight how IU innovation is accelerating economic growth in Indiana and beyond and creating a culture of entrepreneurship across the Hoosier state.

Innovate Indiana is maintained by the Indiana University Office of the Vice President for University Relations.

Subscribe to the Innovate Indiana Blog

Sign up to receive regular updates from Innovate Indiana Blog

Please, insert a valid email.

Thank you, your email will be added to the mailing list once you click on the link in the confirmation email.

Spam protection has stopped this request. Please contact site owner for help.

This form is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent Posts

  • IU, NSWC Crane partner on research initiative to help secure Navy's AI, machine learning systems February 1, 2023
  • IU’s, state’s participation in first-ever NBA games in India helps alumni investors score, spotlights potential economic benefits of engagement with country’s growing venture capital landscape January 31, 2023
  • IU researchers seek to commercialize AI tool to identify undiagnosed cases of early-stage Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia January 24, 2023
  • IU researchers win Translational Research grant for plastic neutron shield material technology January 20, 2023
  • IU-affiliated startup wins the Regional Pre-Seed Award from Elevate Nexus Southern Region Pitch Competition January 17, 2023

Categories

Bookmarks

  • Innovate Indiana website
  • IU Center on Representative Government
  • IU Impact
  • IU Innovation and Commercialization Office
  • IU Office of the Vice President for Research
  • IU Office of the Vice President for University Relations
  • IU Ventures

Indiana University

Copyright © 2022 The Trustees of Indiana University | Privacy Notice | Accessibility Help

Subscribe

Subscribe By Email

Get every new post delivered right to your inbox.

This form is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.