30 Jun The Innovate Network aims to coordinate and amplify startup initiatives on campus
The Innovate Network pulls together more than a dozen campus and campus-affiliated efforts
The Innovate Network, coordinated by UW–Madison’s relatively new Discovery to Product, or D2P, program pulls together more than a dozen campus and campus-affiliated efforts. Some are obvious powerhouses, like the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, or WARF; University Research Park; the Law & Entrepreneurship Clinic; and the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship. Others may be lesser known, like Transcend UW, an entrepreneurial hub that is based in the School of Engineering and has one of the largest student-run innovation competitions in the country.
Each has long worked to help students, staff and faculty bring innovations to market, but often independently, creating both redundancy and gaps. Innovate Network’s goal is not only to better coordinate its own entrepreneurial efforts on campus and promote a stronger culture of innovation, but also to strengthen the connection between UW–Madison and the city’s larger startup ecosystem.