Franklin College launches Franklin CREATE! startup initiative

The Franklin College has partnered with The Marcus Foundation to launch Franklin CREATE!, a new initiative designed to build students’ entrepreneurial confidence and to help them create successful startup companies.

Funded by a $3 million grant from The Marcus Foundation, Franklin CREATE! will establish a robust three-phase model that allows arts and sciences students to gain hands-on experience, mentorship and access to the resources needed to bring their ideas to life.

The program is a collaboration between Franklin College and UGA’s Entrepreneurship Program and Innovation District and CREATE-X at Georgia Tech:

“We are tremendously excited about engaging Franklin faculty and alumni to unleash our students’ full entrepreneurial potential and to drive positive change to enhance market-driven impact,” said Anna Stenport, dean of Franklin College. “It is a critical moment to bring scientific, technological, artistic, computational and social impact advancements into the laboratory of fresh ideas that characterize startup culture. We are deeply grateful to The Marcus Foundation for their support in strengthening our students’ ability to further connect their campus experience with their career aspirations.”

By the end of the three-year pilot, Franklin College aims to create at least 20 new courses, study away opportunities and curriculum pathways. The college has set a goal of introducing more than 2,500 students to entrepreneurial processes and helping launch at least 60 startups.

Franklin CREATE! will enhance the university’s thriving entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem.

Launched in 2016, the UGA Entrepreneurship Program is a campus-wide initiative that serves more than 1,000 students each year and includes a variety of academic and experiential opportunities. An academic certificate program at both the undergraduate and graduate levels offers a comprehensive curriculum that includes training to help students become future innovators in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. The program also offers an idea accelerator program, a summer launch program, seed funding for new ventures and hosts local and national pitch contests to help build students’ real-world skills in launching their startup ventures.

Continue reading...

Image: UGA Arch photo by Andrew Davis Tucker/UGA)