October 18-20 | Tucson, AZ

The Research Institution GAP Fund and Accelerator Program Summit

ASU gets hands-on with student startups, and the community’s economy benefits 

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October 18-20, 2023 / Tucson, AZ
The annual summit for research institution gap fund and accelerator programs, including proof of concept programs, startup accelerators, and university venture funds

The Story

Arizona State University welcomes the entrepreneurial and innovative spirits of the world, while simultaneously offering them the perfect location for the development and sustained growth of their wildest ambitions. The impact and reach of this support, however, seems to be unknown to both the local and national community.

Chris Samuels, director of communications for the Tempe Chamber of Commerce, has been astonished by the recent level of local investment and support for young entrepreneurs.

“Tempe has been slowly climbing the ranks of business cities, and the work that ASU administrators, clubs, and investors do has drastically helped students actualize their unique and profitable ideas,” Samuels said.

Tempe has continuously grown its proportion of the Arizona economy, and Samuels was not hesitant to credit the University as a direct factor in the city’s almost meteoric rise to profitability over the last decade.

Among the city’s recent achievements has been an almost 4% growth in employment, along with a 3% growth in property value and a 2% growth in median household income just from the last year, according to U.S. Census data.

“ASU’s persistence when it comes to student startups has been extremely impressive, and they are definitely bridging the gap between the entrepreneurial youth and the business networks they need to get their ideas front and center,” Samuels added.

The school’s support of enterprising and driven students doesn’t stop at networking, but also involves offering opportunities for investment and multiple competitions to help students gather vital funding in the early stages of their businesses.

Students participate in several startup competitions and get the chance to prove the worth of their ideas in exchange for direct connections with venture capital firms and investors looking to get in at the ground floor.

The latest example of one of these school-sponsored competitions, saw ASU cosponsoring a contest for student startups and offering the winner $100,000 courtesy of the technological firm Avnet.

Lisa Stovall, an administrative assistant working in Avnet, explained that the competition was just the beginning of their student outreach efforts.

“Part of working in the tech field is constantly scanning the country for entrepreneurial and motivated students,” Stovall said.

“Avnet is constantly finding new ways to give back to its local community. And what better than providing the financial backing for students that could one day be contributing directly to the company?”

Avnet is by no means a small fry in the Arizona economy, but it was able to directly contribute venture funding to a student startup thanks to one of the many school competitions offered at ASU.

 

Source: ASU gets hands-on with student startups, and the community’s economy benefits – The State Press

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