Center for Entrepreneurship

Outreach Activities

Idea & Innovation Factory

Economic transformation is pivotal strategic priority of FSU in line with the UNC Tomorrow. For sustained economic growth of the region, we must help to create new businesses and help existing businesses to grow. For sustained growth and future growth, the community will need new ideas, innovations, and entrepreneurs in the area. How can we do that?
The answer is to establish an idea and innovation outlet within the heart of our community. The Idea and Innovation Factory” is a comprehensive state-of-the-art facility that will provide both individuals and businesses with the resources needed to help explore, develop and support new ventures, help existing ventures grow, facilitate patents of technologies, commercialize patented technologies, and nurture technology. It will also work in collaboration with local educational partners to facilitate entrepreneurship curriculum with activities such as student entrepreneurship in local middle schools, high schools, universities, and other higher education institutions. This facility will also be supported by a “Research Lab” in the new Science and Technology Building at Fayetteville State University to allow research in the areas of nanotechnology, ultrafast laser technology, DNA, human genomics, and more.

Both the physical appearance of the building and the atmosphere promoted within will be critical to properly representing the ambiance of the company and generating imagination. The physical appearance of the facility must be unique and attractive (the structural equivalent of an innovation factory). The building will have at least 20,000 sq feet of space constructed with at least two stories. This amount of space will provide sufficient room for a lecture room capable of holding 100 seats, two presentation rooms, two conference rooms, five breakout rooms, a large and inviting reception area, ten staff offices, twenty business offices and/or labs, a break room, and a copy/mail room. High-speed internet, an impenetrable security system, 24-hour video surveillance, and video conferencing will be a few of the many advanced technological features that individuals and businesses will be able to use. The research lab will be housed in the new $30 million science and technology building that will be located on the campus of Fayetteville State University, within a few miles of the factory.

In order to overcome these problems the community will need to recruit new talent and generate new businesses within the community; high-tech business, biotech businesses, and healthcare businesses. This solution will deliver innovative technology and will provide new ways of doing traditional business. Bringing fresh intellectual resources into a growing area will stop ‘brain-drain’, attract additional talented people from both inside and outside of the local community, generate an increased volume of economic activities, create high paying jobs locally, and offer quality educational programs. The Idea and Innovation Factory together with Fayetteville State University is the venue that can make this possibility a reality.