At Iowa State, we didn’t build our entrepreneurial ecosystem for the accolades.

What happens when you provide curious minds endless opportunities to explore their innovative side? Or give them the resources and encouragement to pursue countless entrepreneurial initiatives?

You help them advance the world – like the world’s never seen before. And, if you’re like Iowa State, you might just be named Entrepreneurial University of the Year* along the way.

Although we don’t do it for the awards, we’re honored that our culture of innovation is making waves all around the world.

No one does innovation and entrepreneurship like we do.

After all, Iowa State has been a leader in innovation from agricultural breakthroughs to societal advancements for decades. And with Innovate at Iowa State, we’re doubling down on our comprehensive innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Like at our one-of-a-kind Student Innovation Center, students have access to a 146,000 sq. ft. innovation playground where they can collaborate with all majors, create in our state-of-the-art makerspaces, and take advantage of entrepreneurial programming.

We also support innovative minds by bolstering interdisciplinary research – like the kind that’s advancing healthcare at our Nanovaccine Institute. Iowa State has led this consortium of 82 researchers across 27 organizations since 2018, and it’s been changing how scientists address preventing diseases from COVID-19 to cancer ever since.

The moral of the story? If an innovator has the will, Iowa State will provide them the way.

ISU Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship: The gold standard.

Our award-winning culture of entrepreneurship features opportunity after opportunity for students who want to make an impact before getting their degree. One of the first places they look? Our ISU Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship, which has been recognized by the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers for its role in educating tomorrow’s entrepreneurs. That’s where they’ll find competitions like our College-by-College Pitch Off and business-focused programs like CYstarters, our 11-week summer accelerator program.

It’s at CYstarters where students like Grant Stotts (’24 industrial design) learn how to pitch their ideas and network with successful entrepreneurs. Here, Stotts started Chain Wrestling, his business that works with Division 1 college wrestlers to grow their NIL (name, image, and likeness) by selling custom-designed apparel.

“CYstarters helped me launch my business and become successful – before I even graduated.” Stotts said.

Nanovaccine Institute researchers

Learn more about the Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship's cornerstone program for young entrepreneurs, CYstarters.

An entrepreneurship ecosystem that goes beyond just students.

Yes, providing opportunities for students is one of our main objectives. But Iowa State offers support to anyone who has an entrepreneurial vision. That includes Yen Verhoeven, Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction and founder of Qi Learning, an organization that’s focused on changing the world of education through research and theory-based workshops, curriculum, and instructional strategies.

With direction on how to build a business roadmap from the ISU Startup Factory, a 16-week startup incubator where entrepreneurs receive training, guidance, and networking opportunities, Verhoeven got to turn her dream of starting her own educational company into reality – with no prior business experience necessary.

It’s like Verhoeven said, “When you’re talking about changing the world, you have to play big.” At Iowa State, we couldn’t agree more.

When you’re talking about changing the world, you have to play big.
– Yen Verhoeven

Helping innovators start something bold with their bright ideas.

It’s one thing to say you’re committed to helping others make a difference. It’s another thing to offer a campuswide network to help them do just that. Iowa State’s Start Something Network is one of our largest entrepreneurial undertakings, with all majors encouraged to participate in its programs, competitions, and more.

Cam Reiman (’24 animal ecology) is just one Start Something success story. After adopting a new pet chameleon named Spock at the height of the pandemic, Reiman quickly realized she needed more resources to help her properly care for her exotic pet. Not seeing any available, she did what any entrepreneur-minded student would do – create her own, along with help from her husband, Cole Reiman (’21 agricultural and life sciences education).

By joining Start Something, the two received the resources they needed to begin NutriCubes, a line of food specially designed for exotic pets. They also created Spock’s Sanctuary, a home for exotic rescues and boarders.

Reiman appreciated the collaboration provided by Start Something’s offerings in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to help her co-create two successful businesses. “We were able to come up with solutions to each other’s problems because of our different perspectives and experiences,” said Reiman.

At Iowa State, we provide the resources innovative minds need to start something new for the betterment of the world. And unlike a chameleon, that’s something that will never change.

So, what will Iowa State think of next?

Resting on our laurels has never been the Iowa State way. That’s why year after year, we’re adding innovative and entrepreneurial ideas to our already broad collective. Whether it’s a program like CyBIZ Lab that gives students hands-on business experience or our innovative community venture like CYTown, the nation’s first multi-use district on a college campus designed to spur economic growth and support the cultural arts, Iowa State innovation truly knows no bounds.

It’s easy to see why we keep getting recognized for our work. In addition to our Entrepreneurial University of the Year Award for the Americas, we were also honored with the top Innovation and Economic Prosperity University Award from the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities. And we’re ranked 1st in Iowa and 12th nationally in The Princeton Review’s 2024 annual survey of undergraduate schools for entrepreneurship studies.

Of course, if we happen to pick up more accolades along the way, we won’t complain. But it’s like we said – at Iowa State, we’re not advancing innovation and entrepreneurship for the awards. We’re doing it for the world.

Cam Reiman of Spock's Sanctuary

CYTown, rendering of the on-campus economic growth and cultural arts district.

Lucas Onwuchekwa, ’23 software engineering

* Named Entrepreneurial University of the Year for the Americas for 2023 by the Accreditation Council for Entrepreneurial and Engaged Universities (ACEEU)

This sponsored content is provided by Iowa State University. The editorial staff of Inside Higher Ed had no role in its preparation.