| MINUTES
Initial Meeting of UAEDI Discussion Group:
Enhancing and Promoting Entrepreneurial Activities and Education in Arkansas
Wednesday, November 19, 2003, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm, Arkansas Union, Room 504 (Epley Board Room)
INTRODUCTION OF PARTICIPANTS AND PROTOCOL: Otto Loewer
ATTENDEES: Bob Friedman, Calvin Bacon, Carol Reeves, Carolyne Garcia, Dan Hendrix, Debbie Korth, Fredrick Nafukho, Jack Buffington, Jerry Damerow, John English, Karen Clark, Kathy Deck, Kazem Sohraby, Kenneth McIntyre, Otto Loewer, Phil Stafford, Randy Daniel, Ron Foster, Ron Morris, Will Miller, Amy Robinson, Brent Robinson, Leslie Belden, Bob Wardlow, Richard Hudson, Ken Vickers, Jack Cole, Janie Hipp, Bill Rogers, Leslie Lane, J. J. Watkins.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: The group generated the material listed under Discussion Questions 1-2 under “brainstorming” conditions (limited discussion, no analysis, no ranking, etc). The following are consolidated lists and names of specific contributors have been deleted.
1. DISCUSSION QUESTION 1: What ways, if any, can the faculty, staff, administrators and students at the University of Arkansas make a significant contribution to enhancing and promoting entrepreneurial activities and education in Arkansas?
a. Start-up/prestart-up
b. Using students and faculty to write plans
c. Do market assessments of technology
d. Better co-ordination between agriculture/engineering/Walton College
e. Bridge the gap between students in various colleges, cultures, vocabularies
f. Place with support services, utilities, existing infrastructure
g. When conducting research, consider feasibility
h. Educate people about entrepreneurship
i. Internal/external education on value of research and commercialization
j. Help with regulatory hurdles in agriculture/biotechnology
k. Mentorship
l. Use journalism students
m. Form diverse boards for start-ups
n. Create information for Arkansas legislature to prepare laws
o. Work in schools throughout Arkansas to explain economic impact and advantage (Bessie Moore Center, WCOB)
p. SBCD (Small Business Development Center) is top in the country in mentoring
q. Consider tax credits
r. Way for entrepreneurs to stay in touch with legislators
s. 1st stage funding
t. Person researching validity of business proposal
u. Generate proposals from various sources
v. Bridge vocabulary and cultural differences between disciplines
w. Service learning
x. Educate public and campus on what entrepreneurship is.
y. Network of support (mentoring) for small businesses across the state
z. Networking and mentoring through regulatory/policy process
aa. Systematic research and publication of successful (and unsuccessful) business practices
bb. Collaborate with businesses and institutions of higher learning
cc. Create usable legislation/information for legislators
dd. Pre-staff (University) in response to changes (due to loss to business community if entrepreneur is successful)
ee. Information sharing (networking) serve as conduit between legislature/policy makers and business community (communication)
ff. Patents and intellectual property
2. DISCUSSION QUESTION 2: Who, if anyone, outside the University of Arkansas, would be willing to partner with the University of Arkansas to enhance and promote entrepreneurial activities and education in Arkansas?
a. ACCG (Ark. City and County Govs)
b. ADED (Ark Dept. of Econ. Develop.)
c. DHED (Dept of Higher Education)
d. Arkansas Chamber of Commerce
e. SBDC (Small Business Devel. Ctr)
f. SCORE (Serv. Corps of Ret. Execs)
g. Utility companies
h. Small businesses
i. Accelerate Arkansas!
j. NFIB (Nat¹l Fed of Indep. Bus.)
k. Financial firms/capital corps.
l. UAMS
m. U of A
n. All 2- and 4-year schools
o. All economic developers
p. NBIA (Nat¹l Bus. Incubator Assoc.)
q. Business incubators (GENESIS)
r. Arkansas Bioventures
s. UALR
t. Corporations
u. Media (Demi-Gazette¹s Business Matters)
v. Legislators/elected officials
w. USDA (Dept of Agriculture)
x. ASTA (Ark. Sci. & Technology Auth.)
y. Innovation Incubation
z. NCIIA
aa. Arkansas CEOs
bb. WCOB (Walton College)
cc. Kaufman Foundation
dd. Coleman Foundation
ee. College of Engineering
ff. CELDI (Ctr for Engr. Logistics)
gg. Patent and Copyright Committee
hh. ARTP (Ark. Res. & Tech. Park)
ii. ACTT (Ark. Ctr for Tech Transfer)
jj. RSSP (Research & Sponsored Prog.)
kk. AMEN
ll. Extension Service
mm. Alumni academies
nn. Miliken Institute and others
oo. SBA (Small Business Administration)
pp. CMED (Ctr. For Mgmt & Exec. Devel.)
qq. NCTR
rr. ATTI
ss. ASU BioSciences
tt. SIFE
uu. JA (Junior Achievement)
vv. DINA
ww. FBLA (Future Bus. Leaders)
xx. Onsite Applied Engineering and Entrepreneurship Internship Program
3. DISCUSSION QUESTION 3: Is there is sufficient interest to proceed with this Discussion Group, given that the longer term goal is to generate ideas that result in the creation of one or more Special Initiative Groups that focus on implementing the most promising of these ideas?
Comments include:
a. Depends on direction and organization
b. Money and how to find it
c. Desire to be a partner may be hindered by overlap of common goals
d. YES!
e. Start a bandwagon
f. Different parts of the state have different needs and resources
g. 1st step identify who are the players
There was considerable candid discussion about this question. It was clearly noted that there is no special funding allocated to anything that the group might wish to do. Thus, those who wished to pursue certain ideas via a UAEDI Special Initiative Group would have to do so with the understanding that part of the effort would require obtaining resources for implementation. At the end of the discussion, an overwhelming number of those in attendance seemed to favor moving forward to the next step.
PLANNING PROCESS: The group then entered into a discussion about planning for future meetings and activities.
Two key items surfaced quickly.
1. DATABASE: First, we will inventory those who serve Arkansans and have an interest in entrepreneurial education and activities. These entities will be in a database that is accessible to those with similar interests. Items in this database would include but not be limited to:
a. Mission statement
b. Capabilities/resources
c. Affiliations
d. Grants won
e. Activities
f. Contact info.
g. Projects
h. Needs
i. Interest in interns/mentoring
j. Location
k. Sentence on objectives/activities
2. ESTABLISHING NEEDS: Comments included:
a. Ask entrepreneurs what they need via focus groups
b. Market assessments/analysis
c. Technical expertise
d. Find support for business entrepreneurship in Arkansas
e. Entrepreneurial education
The consensus was that the group would work towards identifying the primary needs of the various groups involved in entrepreneurial education and activities, and that the listing would include those items listed above as a starting point.
NEXT STEPS: The group determined that the next steps are:
1. Otto Loewer will be responsible for beginning to put the entrepreneurial database structure together using the recently developed UA Capabilities Database as a model.
2. Assistance in creating the Entrepreneurial Database will be provided by those in the UAEDI Entrepreneurial Discussion Group on a number of fronts including:
a. Establishing inputs for database entries based in part on list generated above.
b. Identification of “search categories” within the database
c. Directly and indirectly populating the database using the lists generated earlier in the discussion as a starting point.
3. The next meeting of the UAEDI Entrepreneurial Discussion Group is to be targeted towards:
a. Identifying the needs of those with an interest in entrepreneurial education and activities.
b. Generating possible Special Initiatives given the needs generated in (a) above along with a possible “champion” for each.
c. Matching the interest and capabilities of various individuals and programs with the needs and initiatives determined in “a” and “b” above.
4. The time for the next meeting of the UAEDI Entrepreneurial Discussion Group would be in the early spring of next year.
5. In a few weeks, minutes of this meeting will be distributed to Discussion Group members and posted on the UAEDI website
ADJOURN: The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 pm.
11/19/03 Minutes of the UAEDI Entrepreneurial Discussion Group
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