The hallmark of the Trinity's Entrepreneurship efforts is an evolving set of programs designed to involve students from their first to final year on campus, and beyond.
The Center for Entrepreneurship offers the following marquee programs for Trinity students:
- Orientation Next: Invention, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship (IIE) Experience Designed for students who want to explore and experience the world of creating solutions to the world’s biggest challenges. This is a prelude program to jumpstart to Tyree Innovation Fellowship Programs by introducing students to key programs, themes, and experiences that form these year-long programs leading to certificate. Students in the 3-day IIE program will experience multiple field trips to explore innovation around Hartford, including planned visits to New England Air Museum where you can see the latest cool innovations and inventions driving our aerospace programs today, and a behind-the-scenes look at the engineering and invention that powers amusement park rides – visiting Six Flags New England to see them in action. Students will begin learning about how inventions and innovations get created with activities and learning from the Connecticut Invention Convention and MakerSpaceCT programs – with hands-on making and inventing fun in the largest makerspace in CT. Finally, students will bond with fellow student innovators and alumni and get introduced to Trinity’s innovation resources on and off campus – all while having fun and building your own innovative and entrepreneurial mindsets. Join us – no matter your intended major – to explore how asking the right questions can lead to new and creative solutions to change the world around us for the better. LEARN MORE →
- Tyree Innovation Fellowship. A comprehensive program for first- and second-year students who want to expand their skill sets and network, including a range of activities during the school year and guaranteed summer paid internships. LEARN MORE AND APPLY →
- Summit Innovation Challenge. The Summit Innovation Challenge gets first-year students learning creative problem-solving, persuasive communication, teamwork, and the innovation mindset. Working with peers, mentors, and the Entrepreneurship Center to create their own invention, students work through a solution-oriented design process and their work culminates in a competition where they pitch their ideas to a panel of judges. The First Summit Innovation Challenge Shark Tank-style event was held in March, 2022.
- Sponsored Senior Capstone Projects. Alumni and corporate sponsors bring forward real-world problems to senior students, who work with mentors to investigate, design, and present solutions to the sponsors. Students work as members of their sponsor technical teams to learn new skills and experience actual creative and technical development in real-world settings. LEARN MORE→
- Sponsored Alumni Startup Projects. Sponsored Alumni Startup Projects Program fields ideas from alumni who know their markets and needs, and who bring their startup ideas to campus to pitch to student teams to pursue. Students gain from the experience and connections of alumni in evaluating potential commercializability of startup ideas — and potentially lay the groundwork for launching a startup post-graduation. LEARN MORE→
The center is preparing other programs that will be launched in the 2023-2024 school year and beyond, including J-term and Spring semester co-curricular education courses in entrepreneurship topics, and paid summer internship programs for Summer 2024.
In the longer term, the center will offer incubation, acceleration, and other immersive hands-on experiences to support student startup-creation interests.
