The Aggie Venture Development Lab: an incubator for students interested in entrepreneurship and innovation. Students have 24-hour access to a shared facility, mentoring, workshops, and business service providers (such as accountants, lawyers, and graphic designers with small business experience). The Lab also has a funding source called The Aggie Start Up Fund which provides cash awards to seed startup businesses for participants who reach certain milestones within the Startup Lab program.
NC A&T University Research Farm: a 492-acre working, producing farm that raises crops and livestock, and serves as the university's largest classroom and largest laboratory. Founded in 1902, the farm is home to the recently opened Extension and Research Farm Pavilion and is part of the institution's College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (CAES).
Gateway University Research Park: a collaboration between NC A&T and The University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG). This unique joint venture seeks to transform intellectual properties into thriving businesses in a collaborative environment that combines groundbreaking business organizations with world-class laboratories, highly advanced equipment, and the intellectual capital of faculty and students from both institutions.
Tennessee State University (TSU) is building an inclusive ecosystem for innovation through its Center for Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (CEED), which coordinates the entrepreneurship efforts of the University, the TSU Incubation Center, and the Small Business Development Center (SBDC).
Adding to this ecosystem is TSU's National Center for SMART Technology Innovations. The Center's mission is to address educational and workforce challenges through the innovative development of 'App' technology. The Center serves as home to technology initiatives that seek to bring coding and creativity (known as C2) experiences to HBCUs and the Nashville community.
Looking towards the future, TSU plans to expand its inclusive innovation ecosystem with the development of a mixed-use Research and Innovation District along the west side of the TSU campus. The proposed 70-acre project will introduce opportunities for economic development and business incubation, innovation research and education, workforce housing, commercial activities, and more.
As is evident in the above, HBCUs are serving as powerful engines of inclusive innovation. KSU aspires to accomplish the same in support of the innovation economy in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.