UT Dallas to Host Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers' 2023 Conference

UT Dallas to Host Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers’ 2023 Conference

The GCEC has over 200 university members from across the U.S. and around the world. At its annual conference, the centers work together to share best practices, develop programs and initiatives, and collaborate and assist each other to advance, strengthen, and celebrate the role of universities in teaching tomorrow's entrepreneurs.

"We look forward to our peers from entrepreneurship centers all over the world joining us to learn, connect, grow, and better our efforts in the entrepreneurship space," says UTD's Dresden Goldberg.

The Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at The University of Texas at Dallas will host the 2023 Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC) annual conference in Richardson.

The GCEC is an academic organization that addresses important emerging topics for the nation’s university-based centers for entrepreneurship. Over 200 established and emerging entrepreneurship centers—including ones from international universities—work together at the GCEC to share best practices, develop programs and initiatives, and collaborate and assist each other to advance, strengthen, and celebrate the role of universities in teaching tomorrow’s entrepreneurs, UTD said.

The 2023 conference theme: ‘Mindsets and Methods’

UT Dallas will host the 2023 GCEC conference. [Photo: UT Dallas]

Next year’s event at UT Dallas, to be held October 5-7, 2023, will have the theme “Mindsets and Methods.” The university says the conference will focus on how to support entrepreneurs, and will explore how university-based entrepreneurship centers can be more effective in their methods for teaching mindsets and skills to all students.

“UT Dallas is incredibly honored to be recognized among our peers as the 2023 conference host,” Dresden Goldberg, senior director of programs and operations for the institute, said in a statement. “We’re excited to show off North Texas and the amazing innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystems that have emerged in our communities. We look forward to our peers from entrepreneurship centers all over the world joining us to learn, connect, grow, and better our efforts in the entrepreneurship space.”

Institute hosts pitch competitions, innovation programs, workshops, and more

UT Dallas Big Idea Competition, presented by the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. [Photo: UT Dallas]

The UT Dallas institute hosting the conference was established in 2006 and is a nationally ranked center for student entrepreneurship and innovation. An interdisciplinary division of the Naveen Jindal school of Management, its programming is open to students from all academic majors. The institute offers everything from startup pitch events like its Big Idea Comptition to workshops, networking events, venture support, innovation programs, scholarships, and community outreach.

“UT Dallas has long had a deeply ingrained entrepreneurial focus that benefits our students, faculty and the companies with whom we have partnered,” Dr. Richard C. Benson, president of UT Dallas and the Eugene McDermott Distinguished University Chair of Leadership, said in a statement. “We’re honored to be chosen as the site for the next GCEC conference and proud to showcase campus and regional efforts to support entrepreneurship in the realm of tech-oriented research and innovation,”

Institute manages the Venture Development Center

The Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship manages the Venture Development Center (VDC), an incubation space for alumni, faculty, and students seeking to commercialize their ideas and inventions, in partnership with the Office of Research and Innovation. UTD said that an extension of the VDC recently opened at the Richardson Innovation Quarter.

Also, the Blackstone LaunchPad network is a part of the institute and is funded by a grant from the Blackstone Charitable Foundation. The network makes entrepreneurial skills accessible to all students and recent alumni through startup resources, mentors, advisers, and events, UTD said.

“We are known in Texas as leaders of entrepreneurship. This is what we’ve been since our founding. UT Dallas has always been focused on entrepreneurship, meeting industry needs and interacting with industry—this is all part of our institutional DNA,” Dr. Joseph Pancrazio, UT Dallas vice president for research and innovation, said in a statement. “We look forward to showcasing our campus to an international community by hosting this conference. We’re eager to illustrate and demonstrate what is special about what we do in the areas of innovation and entrepreneurship.”