Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center
What will you create?
Every growth-powering strategy, product, company or app starts from the same source: an idea.
But these initial concepts won’t expand and flourish on their own: There’s an entrepreneur — a roll-up-their-sleeves small business owner, a thinking-out-of-the-box employee or a disruptive startup founder — promoting their product, soliciting funds and always looking at least two steps ahead.
This approach might be the business world’s all-encompassing driver, but where and how do you acquire this mindset? The Warrington College of Business’ Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center educates the University of Florida and the greater Gainesville community in this pursuit while advancing the practice through research and serving as our campus’ incubation hub.
Through the center’s courses, programs, and competitions, you’ll have access to the space, resources, and mentorship needed to transform your idea into a business plan, pitch it, and even secure a grant while you’re completing your degree. That means you don’t just learn entrepreneurship — you put it into practice and prepare to generate a profit.
Opportunities and activities
To some degree, all business operations center around entrepreneurship. The more than 2,000 students who take advantage of the center’s programming get familiar with its principles and applications in startup, social and corporate contexts while learning hands-on how to turn curiosity into a fledgling company or revenue-boosting initiative.
Blackstone LaunchPad
Brainstorm, get insights from experts and engage with other entrepreneurial-minded students in this campus-wide incubation space.
UF AI Days Gator Tank
What can’t artificial intelligence do? Test the limits of this emerging technology with a business concept while vying for $5,000 in microgrants.
Luby Microgrant Pitch Competition
Enter your creative proposal to net some cash for your venture’s early stages.
Big Idea business plan competition
Give your idea some definition with this four-month mentored competition that culminates in a complete business plan and a chance to win more than $40,000.
Entrepreneurship trips
Head to one of the country’s leading entrepreneurial hubs — Silicon Valley, Austin or Denver — for a direct, alumni-guided introduction to venture capitalist firms and the opportunity to pitch investors.
Gator Hatchery
Ideas accelerate into plans and products in UF’s selective student business incubator. In addition to having a physical co-working space for meetings, residents get mentored by experienced entrepreneurs and can connect with the center’s network of affiliated companies and alumni.
Gold Learning Lab & GatorNest
Failure isn’t a setback but a chance to refine a product and its promotional strategy further. Illustrating the dynamic nature of entrepreneurship, our lab lets students explore this process and take their business ideas to the next level, including on their own or through the GatorNest consulting experience.
Innovation Fellows
Through this joint effort between Warrington and the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, undergraduate students spend 18 to 23 weeks developing, testing and pitching a technology-based solution.
Experiential Classroom
What’s the best way to introduce entrepreneurial skills? This three-day clinic, offered jointly by the University of Notre Dame, the University of Tampa and the University of Florida, equips educators of all levels to incorporate these modern-day business fundamentals into their lesson plans.
Resources and initiatives
Helping Gainesville businesses
Businesses generate income, create jobs and contribute to a thriving economy. Recognizing how vital entrepreneurship is to prosperous communities, our center shares our knowledge and resources with existing and aspiring small business owners in the Gainesville area.
Entrepreneurial findings
What factors propel a venture forward? Which conditions and resources benefit emerging entrepreneurs? Our researchers ponder and pursue these questions before publishing their findings.
Guiding entrepreneurs
How can you get started — or remain strong through a rough patch? Our guide helps you think ahead, no matter if you’re a UF student assembling your first pitch or an existing entrepreneur intending to move past the startup phase.
Courses and programs
Through classes and degree programs structured around acquiring key entrepreneurial competencies, you’ll learn to recognize profitable ideas, procure resources, strategize your early progress, anticipate risks and adapt to every challenge you encounter.
MS in Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is never a passive activity. This master’s program, available on campus and online, immerses students in the full concept-to-creation process — complete with mentorship for their business ventures and networking and pitching opportunities.
Entrepreneurship specialization
Get exposure to all core entrepreneurial principles alongside traditional business competencies in this specialization available to BABA students.
Impact Entrepreneurship Initiative
We empower students to become innovative entrepreneurs, strategic problem-solvers, and high impact leaders in business and beyond.
We create opportunities for students to become innovative problem-solvers and strategic leaders, challenging them to develop skills and strategies of successful business & community leaders who create innovative, impactful, and resilient solutions to real-world challenges.
Graduate entrepreneurship minor
Know what’s involved in launching, promoting, and sustaining your own business, no matter your degree or specialty. For students outside the Warrington College of Business.
Undergraduate entrepreneurship minor
How do new companies enter a crowded marketplace? What’s the best way to kick-start a new product or app? Offering insight into these and more scenarios, this minor covers the basic principles of business operations and venture development. Open to all undergraduate students.
Business plan laboratory
This two-credit course instructs undergraduate and graduate students in the basics of business plan development, including funding and orchestrating growth.
Combination degree
Envision a future in startups, small business operations, or growth initiatives? Get there sooner, with no extra stops, by beginning courses for the MS in Entrepreneurship while an undergraduate.
Support the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center
Every gift fuels innovation across the UF community — from workshops to grants, competitions and entrepreneurship-focused classes.
The latest news
Upcoming events
November 21
Turkey Tank Pitch Competition
Turn that vision into a viable business
Dream about launching a startup, a disruptive product, or a profit-increasing venture? Why not do it with the support of UF’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center?
Contact us
Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center
Warrington College of Business
University of Florida
1384 Union Rd
Bryan Hall 125