The Regnier Institute will welcome 240 guests from Harvard, MIT, Japan, Indonesia and more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – More than 240 representatives from national and global entrepreneurship centers will descend upon Kansas City for the 2013 Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers Conference at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

The Regnier Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, part of UMKC’s renowned Henry W. Bloch School of Management, has been selected by the GCEC to host the conference that runs Oct. 24-26. This year’s theme is “Entrepreneurial Impact: Now is the Time.” Attendees also will visit the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to learn about Kauffman programs and opportunities.

The GCEC Conference, now in its 17th year, is a gathering of leadership representing university-based entrepreneurship centers across the nation and around the world. In recent years, the conference has been hosted at Rice University, Penn State University, the University of Southern California and Georgetown University. Next year’s conference will be held in the UK at the University College London.

“Entrepreneurship is the driver behind economic development, and Kansas City aspires to be the most entrepreneurial city in the world,” said John Norton, managing director of the Regnier Institute. “This conference is an opportunity for both Kansas City and UMKC to let the world know how serious we are about that aspiration, and to show the fast pace and innovative momentum this city is experiencing right now,” Norton said.

Norton says the conference sessions are focused less on the academic discipline of entrepreneurship and more on sharing best practices in creating the entrepreneurial experience.

Approximately 200 universities will be represented at the conference, including Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Kwansei Gakuin University in Japan, Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship and the Universitas Ciputra in Indonesia, the only university devoted entirely to entrepreneurship.

Workshops begin at 10:45 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 25 and Saturday, Oct. 26. Included in the discussions are:

• “University Accelerators and Incubators:  Lessons Learned and Best Practices from theFront Lines” – questions to consider before adding an accelerator  – who is it for, what are the expectations, how do we structure, organize fund and run this thing? Kyle Judah, MIT; Connie Bourassa-Shaw, University of Washington; Ted Zoller, University of North Carolina; Philippe Sommer, University of Virginia; Brad Burke, Rice University

• “Opportunities Knock” – a discussion of 10 breast cancer inventions. Rosemarie Truman, President, The Center for Advancing Innovation; Phil Weilerstein, Executive Director, The National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance; Gurpreet Jagpal, University College London

• “How to Partner, Fund and Position Your Entrepreneurship Center as the Driving Force in Your Local Entrepreneurial Ecosystem” – an integration of university and community resources that creates a strong economic foundation to sustain the community and university centers. Maria Meyers, Carmen DeHart, Jeff  Shackelford and Jim Baxendale, University of Missouri-Kansas City

• “Design and Entrepreneurship Education: The D School is the new B School” – the next generation of the experiential learning environment, using design thinking, collaborative learning and hands on entrepreneurial experiences. Michael Song and Teng-Kee Tan, University of Missouri-Kansas City; Steve McDowell, BNIM; Tom Bloch, UMKC Advisory Board

• “Best Practices in Commercializing University Innovation” – an analysis of the philanthropic or seed stage models that can support moving university science/technology to the market. Lesa Mitchell, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation; Roman Lubynsky, MIT

“We are so proud that UMKC will have this special opportunity to show the world our expertise and leadership in the area of entrepreneurship and innovation,” said UMKC Chancellor Leo Morton. “Entrepreneurship is a priority on this campus, and our goal is to infuse entrepreneurship into every discipline, from law and engineering to health sciences and the arts. UMKC is deeply engaged with Kansas City’s goal to become the most entrepreneurial city in the nation.”

Conference information will be available at GCEC.