University of Massachusetts – Lowell

Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Location: One University Avenue, Lowell, MA 01854

Mission: “The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship offers students and faculty of all disciplines the opportunity to work together to develop innovative and entrepreneurial solutions to the major problems facing our community, the region and the world. The Center hosts several programs that encourage social innovation and entrepreneurship among UMass Lowell students, faculty and staff, as well as the broader community in which we live.

The goal of the Center is to aid the development of an innovative and entrepreneurial mindset among UMass Lowell students, faculty, graduates, and community members so they, in turn, can solve the very complex problems facing our community and society in this 21st century.”

Academic Programs:

The Manning School of Business

• Undergraduate – Entrepreneurship Concentration: Prepares students to be “outside-of-the-box” thinkers and innovators in today’s complex global economy.
• Graduate – Master of Science in Innovation and Technological Entrepreneurship (MSITE): Provides engineers, business majors and scientists with the skills and knowledge required to drive innovation in today’s collaborative, global workforce.
• Graduate – Master of Science in Innovation and Technological Entrepreneurship (MSITE) Healthcare Innovation & Entrepreneurship (HI+E) Option: This option is targeted towards healthcare professionals, such as hospital managers/administrators, clinicians, physicians and other medical professionals who need to understand and manage the impact of emerging technologies and innovations in the healthcare industry. The Program will also benefit recent graduates who wish to enter the healthcare industries as a career choice.
• Graduate Certificate – New Venture Creation: This program is focused specifically on the creation of technology-based ventures and is designed to assist professionals with undergraduate and career experience in science, engineering, technology or business fields in better understanding how to develop and launch a technology-based business.
• Why should you pursue an MSITE degree?

College of Sciences, Computer Science Department

• The Computer Science Department offers an entrepreneurship option in their master’s degree. It is directed at those with a strong undergraduate background in Computer Science who are interested in both deepening their technical knowledge and in understanding the tools required for developing a company directed towards software services and products.

College of Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Assistive Technology Program

• A component of the undergraduate Electrical and Computer Engineering program, senior ECE students complete a senior capstone project aimed at designing and producing an assistive technology device for a person with a disability. Engineering students can apply the knowledge they have learned from their courses and help solve problems for disabled people through creating technological advances.

Other Programs:

New Venture Initiative

UMass Lowell’s New Venture Initiative (NVI) is a model for University cultivation of startup activity. NVI provides a path for University-owned innovation to become a startup. Enhanced mechanisms, support and resources for external startups seeking to partner with the University are also available through NVI.

Several resources are available through the New Venture Initiative, which are meant to assist startups and technologies that are, and become, part of our pipeline.

• Development of a mentor team
  • UMass Lowell inside mentoring
  • Outside/Third party programs
• Market research and analysis
  • In-house
  • Contract-based
• Grant identification and application support working closely with the Vice Provost Research staff
  • I-Corp
  • SBIR/STTR
  • Mentor Protégé
  • UMass Translational and Commercialization Grant particularly for proof of concept and prototyping
  • Commonwealth of Massachusetts
• Business model, plan and pitch development
• Financing network introductions and facilitation
• Technical and prototype milestone and development work
• Clinical and regulatory path due diligence
• Underwriting UMass Lowell and UMass system-wide resources that can be better used by startups to achieve early milestones
  • Core Research Facilities
• Design, prototyping and testing services

Mentor Program

The UMass Lowell Mentor Program is a committed network of mentors with a broad set of skills and professional experience assisting UMass Lowell entrepreneurs in building knowledge and growing startups. This is important for continued entrepreneurial growth at the University and within the culture of our faculty and students.

Today’s emerging UMass Lowell entrepreneurs have a fast-moving and competitive business environment to overcome. The speed of product life cycles, competition, and marketing and finance strategies require outside assistance, experience and resources. UMass Lowell’s Mentor Program offers this guidance through talented, professional mentors.

The UMass Lowell Mentor Program focuses on two areas:

1. DifferenceMaker – Based on student projects and technologies
2. New Venture Initiative – Based on faculty and post doc research technologies

The Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center (M2D2)

M2D2 is a lifeline for the state’s smaller medical device companies, offering inventors and executives easy, affordable, and coordinated access to world-class researchers and resources at the Lowell and Worcester campuses of the University of Massachusetts. Learn more.