More than 14,200 University of Colorado students received their degrees at Spring Commencement ceremonies on our campuses last month. As we continue celebrating our newest alumni reaching this milestone, it’s a fitting time to consider the impact they’ll have on our communities, state, nation and world.
We know many will go on to become experts in their chosen fields and engaged community members who care about the world around them. They’ll be educators, engineers, artists, healthcare providers, policymakers, scientists, lawyers, and so much more. And fortunately for all of us, they’ll also be leaders, critical thinkers and problem-solvers.
The challenges and opportunities facing us as a society demand we meet them head-on with creativity, perseverance and adaptability. In addition to educating our students in their chosen fields of study, our role as a university is to provide them with opportunities and experiences that allow them to practice, grow and hone these skills.
The environment in which our students learn plays a huge role in shaping them as individuals. They benefit from CU’s dynamic innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, which spans and enriches all disciplines at the university, from the sciences to the liberal arts, to health and medicine and everything in between. Innovation and entrepreneurship are strong currents running throughout CU, connecting us and our work. They’re part of our guiding principles and our vision as an institution. They’re at the heart of our research, creative work and scholarship. They inform the way we educate, operate and deliver on our mission.
Across our four campuses, more than 17,000 students took courses or participated in programming with an innovation and entrepreneurship focus in the 2022-23 academic year. CU has a long history of impact in this space: Over the years, CU’s innovation engines have helped launch close to 300 start-ups, making the university fifth in the nation for start-up creation. CU’s technology transfer engines, which drive tech development and other solutions to address urgent challenges, have a significant national economic impact. CU Boulder’s Venture Partners contributed $5.2 billion to the national economy over five years from 2018-2022. Meanwhile, CU Innovations at our Anschutz Medical campus, which is focused on uniting industry partners, entrepreneurs and investors with CU researchers to create biomedical technology that advances patient care, generated $3.7 billion for the U.S. economy in 2023 alone.
Globally ranked as a top academic institution for innovation, CU Anschutz is also home to the Anschutz Acceleration Initiative, which provides funding for healthcare innovations poised to have a direct patient impact within the next three to five years. The campus is a world leader in pioneering medical education as demonstrated by offerings like the School of Medicine’s Climate & Health program, which provides specialized training for climate-related health issues, and the Center for COMBAT Research, which is solving the U.S. military’s toughest medical challenges through research, education and collaboration.
Colorado Law students on our Boulder campus benefit from the rich, interdisciplinary offerings of Silicone Flatirons, which focuses on the future of technology policy and innovation. CU Boulder’s College of Music boasts the Entrepreneurship Center for Music, which enables students to cultivate skills necessary for sustainable careers in the arts.
CU Denver offers Colorado’s only Master’s in Entrepreneurship, focused on teaching students how to create growth in any organization, including within their own start-ups. The campus is also using innovation to fuel vital workforce development as illustrated by its NxtGEN Teacher Residency program – a model that has been implemented nationwide – which is addressing the shortage of teachers in rural communities by training and retaining teachers from within those communities.
At UCCS, the pioneering Bachelor of Innovation, which can be earned in 22 different academic areas, brings together students with complementary skills and interests to work on projects for actual companies or for their own entrepreneurial pursuits. As a result, those enrolled in the program gain invaluable business experience and a robust professional network before they even graduate. Meanwhile, the Greater Resilience Information Toolkit (GRIT), developed by the Lyda Hill Institute for Human Resilience at UCCS, serves as a resource for Southern Colorado’s workforce, including educators, health care workers, military personnel, first responders and small business owners. The free online self-guided resilience training created during the pandemic helps professionals who may be struggling with stress and trauma.
With each of our campuses making significant contributions in the innovation and entrepreneurship space, the President’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E) Initiative serves as a bridge between them, fostering collaboration and creativity among our students, faculty and staff systemwide – and with community partners – to generate real-world results. I’m excited for some of this extraordinary work to be highlighted this fall at the inaugural I&E Initiative Showcase. Stay tuned for more details about this upcoming event.
There’s no shortage of examples to demonstrate the caliber of our innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem at CU. But perhaps the best examples of our excellence are our graduates. As we celebrate our more than 14,200 newest alumni, we’re also celebrating the infinite possibilities they bring with them as they make their way in the world.
