NUtech Thinkers and Tinkerers Series

What kicked off Oct. 24, NUtech Ventures will host a series of seminars intended to bridge the gap between innovation and the consumer marketplace. The seminar series, “Thinkers and Tinkers” will have 11 segments, with each topic covered by a different expert in the field.

The goal at NUtech Ventures is to create a link between researchers who create innovative ideas and the private sector, which has the resources to get that innovation to the private marketplace.

Cheryl Barts is a technology agent at NUtech, with a strong background in microbiology. “There is a lot of innovation happening that doesn’t get translated into the real world,” Barts said. NUtech can offer graduate students and other innovators an opportunity to find a market for the products of their research. NUtech also offers assistance in finding applications for proven research.

David Conrad leads the first event in the series

Barts said the overall aim of the series is to get Nebraskans thinking about entrepreneurship, and to inform entrepreneurs about what NUtech Ventures can do for them. She pointed out that a lot of research never leaves the laboratory setting. Often this happens because promising graduate students get stuck in a lab environment due to a lack of resources and connections to the marketplace. NUtech would like to see more products from this academic/ lab setting find their way into the marketplace, where they can begin to meet needs currently unanswered.

All 11 sessions of the seminars are free and open to the public. A lunch will be served to the first 40 people. All presentations begin at noon. The presentations will be held at the Nebraska Union and the East Campus Union. The first session that was held Oct. 24, was led by David Conrad, executive director of NUtech Ventures. Conrad will discuss “How to Form an Innovative Partnership with Industry.”

Cheryl Barts, Technology Agent

The remainder of the series will be held monthly, with a hiatus in December. Dates scheduled for the Nebraska Union are:

Nov. 21: “The Startup Visa: Helping the World’s Entrepreneurs Create Jobs,” with Jane Garrity, technology agent.

Feb. 27: “Basics of IP and Implications for Researchers,” with Stuart Martens, patent attorney.

April 23: “Contracts 101,” with Rose Robotham, contract compliance officer.

June 25: “Pitch Perfect: Tips for Talking with Potential Investors,” with Jill Thayer, marketing and operations manager.

July 23: “How to Conduct a Patent Search,” with Leon Castro, technology agent.

UNL East Campus Union

[Shane Farritor's Innovation Seminar series was filmed live at the NET studios in Lincoln, NE. This series is designed to change the way you think about business and engineering. It is designed to encourage you to work with imagination, to improvise, and to try unconventional approaches.]

The “Brainstorming” installation of the series, held Nov. 1, examines the role and effectiveness of traditional brainstorming activities. Farritor presented examples of efficient and productive alternatives that generate ideas.

Oct 20 brought “Little Bets,” devoted to understanding how small risks can result in big payoffs, and exploring how learning to recognize small opportunities translates into more innovation for a business.

The series kicked off Oct 18, 2011 with “We Need Your Gift,” focused on helping individuals rediscover their natural talents and offering methods to help entrepreneurs constantly expand and refine their gifts.

“I abhorrently say it’s not a networking group,” Hagemoser said. “I call it a trade association for entrepreneurs.”

According to Hagemoser, L5, so named for its five founding Lincoln-based companies, provides much more than just a locale for meet-and-greets and referral passing. It’s a forum for Nebraska entrepreneurs to come together to share ideas and build a community that strengthens everyone involved through the shared experiences, struggles and triumphs that can only be learned from the school of hard knocks that every successful entrepreneur must eventually graduate from.

“The real value of L5 is bringing people together to build … significant relationships where they feel comfortable sharing things that are going on in their business that they probably don’t want everybody in the world to know,” Hagemoser said. “Those kinds of connections and the ability for people to share those kinds of information only happen once you get to know someone more than the surface stuff that happens at business networking events.”

Before a typical meeting L5 meeting, members receive a topic and a video clip via email usually accompanied by a blog post on the group’s Facebook site. Topics range from hiring practices to stock option and healthcare plans for employees to venture capital and bank financing.

L5 tries to provide a more intimate connection between entrepreneurs. If members don’t want to discuss a topic with the group at large during a meeting they can always split into a smaller group of like-minded people, or split off yet again and talk to each other one-on-one.

Dialogue at the actual meeting is important, but the real goal of L5 is to get members to connect with each other in a meaningful way so that they can learn from one another. The group is composed almost entirely of entrepreneurs so it’s easier for L5 members to relate with one another within the meetings, but L5 goes a step further in promoting member engagement by encouraging member entrepreneurs to meet with someone new from the group each month over coffee or lunch.

“That’s definitely beneficial,” L5 member Bart Dillashaw said. “In any big group meeting where there are a lot of people you may be fluctuating from conversation to conversation. It’s not the same sort of one-on-one or one-on-two direct conversation you could have with someone by following up later.”

This emphasis on connecting members with like-minded individuals also helps to deal with another common problem in entrepreneurship.

“Entrepreneurship is lonely,” Hagemoser said. “What do you do about that when you’re in the four walls of your business with your head down? How do you make sure that you don’t feel like it’s you against the world?”

Hagemoser’s company has changed a lot since the original Lincoln five asked each other how they could help Lincoln entrepreneurs engage with and learn from one another. For starters, L5 has grown from its original core to an eclectic mix of 27 entrepreneurs drawn from a host of different professions. Whether you have decades of experience and dozens of employees, or you’re brand-new to the game and you have an idea that needs to be vetted by knowledgeable professionals, there is a place for you in L5, according to Hagemoser.

“Every one of them has something to share and something to learn,” Hagemoser said.

But the changes go deeper than just an expanding membership, according to Hagemoser. L5′s business model is dynamic, and because of that the group has evolved and adapted to meet the needs of its members continually since its inception.

Many of Hagemoser’s initial assumptions about what entrepreneurs wanted to get out of L5 were proven wrong. Initially he wanted to match up entrepreneurs as mentors and mentees and also to have curriculum taught by experienced entrepreneurs. Both of those were a no-go: Experienced entrepreneurs didn’t have the time to teach and younger entrepreneurs didn’t have the time to listen. It was a sobering experience for Hagemoser.

“I had made an assumption and it was proven wrong in the marketplace,” Hagemoser said. “That was frustrating.”

When the marketplace disproved his initial assumptions Hagemoser had to adapt. L5 meetings are now more like a group discussion among entrepreneur peers rather than classes taught by entrepreneur instructors. The group is also looking to continue its expansion and to host more events in Omaha to cater to its Omaha-based entrepreneurs. Hagemoser said he would like to see the group expand to 50 members or more in the near future. L5 isn’t done changing either. According to Hagemoser, the group will continue to adapt as it grows in an attempt to better suit the needs of the Nebraska entrepreneur community.

“If you’re an entrepreneur and you’re trying to better yourself and you’re struggling with the normal things entrepreneurs struggle with, let’s create a dialogue,” Hagemoser said. “I’m open to suggestions. I would love to tailor L5 to the way that people want to learn and want to connect.”

Entrepreneurs interested in joining L5 or attending the next event should contact Kevin Hagemoser at: L5group@yahoo.com.

Shane Farritor, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln engineering professor and entrepreneur, aims to answer these questions and more in his upcoming series of Innovation Seminars. With thought-provoking titles such as “Orbiting the Giant Hairball,” “What The Hell Are You Talking About” and “We Need Your Gift,” Farritor plans to help new and experienced entrepreneurs understand where innovation comes from, how to manufacture it and how to harness its potential in their lives.

"we are all born with creative gifts and as children are willing to jump into unknown waters"

According to Farritor’s blog at www.shanefarritor.com, most people make the mistake of thinking that innovation and creativity exist in a vacuum, the select gift of a few lucky individuals. The aim of the seminar is to show entrepreneurs how to create the ideal environment for innovation to occur, how to be more improvisational in business, and to provide “concrete, actionable tools” that attendees can use to harness their creative energy.

Afternoon sessions of the seminar will be held at 110 Jorgensen Hall on UNL’s City Campus, with evening sessions at NET 1800 N. 33rd St. in Lincoln. Each title will have both an afternoon and evening session, and will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout October and November. Afternoon sessions will be from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.; evening sessions will begin at 6 p.m. All six sessions of the seminar are free.

The series kicks off Oct 18 with “We Need Your Gift,” focused on helping individuals rediscover their natural talents and offering methods to help entrepreneurs constantly expand and refine their gifts.

Oct 20 brings “Little Bets,” devoted to understanding how small risks can result in big payoffs, and exploring how learning to recognize small opportunities translates into more innovation for a business.

Two seminars are scheduled in the first week of November: “Brainstorming and Other Thinkertoys” and “Orbiting the Giant Hairball.” The “Brainstorming” installation of the series, to be held Nov. 1, examines the role and effectiveness of traditional brainstorming activities. Farritor will present examples of efficient and productive alternatives that generate ideas. “Orbiting,” on Nov. 3, gives entrepreneurs strategies to avoid being bogged down in fixed practices and techniques. In addition, the discussion will introduce tools to use within the creative workplace environment.

Shane Farritor

The Nov. 15 seminar, “Where Good Ideas Come From,” focuses on environments that work to foster innovation. Referencing historical data to illustrate the concept that “big ideas come from specific environments,” this seminar aims to help participants reinvent their work environment to promote creative thinking.

The series wraps up on Nov. 15 with “What the Hell Are You Talking About,” designed to discuss the role of communication in promoting business ideas. Farritor will illustrate how to present an idea as a “sticky” idea or an idea that people remember and discuss. Specific strategies for pitching ideas will also be presented.

According to Farritor, “The main point of the series is that we are all innovative and creative. However, you must work at it. I want to provide concrete steps that each of us can take to make us more creative. Your creativity will benefit us all.”

Farritor is a native of Nebraska, and a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a professor in UNL’s Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, and the founder of two companies, Virtual Incision and Mrail.

“Since the start of the Nebraska EAS program, we’ve added three full-time jobs, two part-time jobs and expect to double our team size in the next 18 months,” said Ben Vu, founder and CEO of SkyVu Entertainment. SkyVu makes mobile social games for iPhone, iPad and Android. The company started in 2009 with four employees and expects to have 75 employees by 2013. SkyVu was one of 10 EAS program participants that shared their business growth stories at the Nebraska Department of Economic Development’s Reverse Trade Mission in September.

The Nebraska program is a joint effort of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, the Gallup Organization, the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce and the University of Nebraska. Last spring, 27 small business and economic development leaders from across Nebraska were trained using Gallup’s system. For the past six months, each of those leaders has been mentoring five to 10 entrepreneurs.

“It’s been very exciting for me to get to work with businesses on their behind-the-scenes processes,” said Jason Ball, director of business development for the Lincoln Partnership for Economic Development. Ball is mentoring eight companies including MileStone Local Surfaces. EAS has helped Milestone navigate the transition from a husband-and-wife artisan shop to a growing business with several employees.

“This came at a really good time for them and has really helped them formalize their process and their communication,” Ball said. ”They are really working hard with the program and they are seeing results. They are getting lots of positive feedback from their employees.”

MileStone founder Josh Shear said that employees now understand why they are asked to do something and that error rates have decreased 75 percent. Shear said Ball has pushed him to grow from the “guy who is doing all the work to the guy who is running the company.”

For 25 years, LiteForm Technologies has been manufacturing concrete forms in South Sioux City. This spring, just as EAS was getting started, the community called on the company to help hold back flood waters. Even as they helped engineer solutions for the flooding, LiteForm dove into the EAS program.

“The program really made us take a good look at ourselves and focused us on who we are as a company and who we want to be at this critical time in history,” LiteForm Sales Manager Casey Koch said. “Based on what we learned from EAS, we decided to increase our focus on engaging our customers, and, as a result, one customer made their biggest order ever totaling $220,000. We now expect to hire three more people in the next 18 months.”

The EAS system uses Gallup assessment tools that are backed by decades of business research. One conclusion of this research is that entrepreneurs are key to building strong economies.

“Entrepreneurship is a driving force behind sustainable economic development. Gallup has been researching this economic reality for decades,” Todd Johnson, team leader for global job initiatives at Gallup, told the Reverse Trade Mission. “In fact, in this country we realized through our research that about 1,000 entrepreneurs were responsible for the economic miracle that occurred between the 1970s and the 1990s.”

Nebraska is the first state to use the EAS program to provide business development assistance to early-stage entrepreneurs and to established firms with high-growth potential. The program focuses on building the individual strength of the entrepreneurs and helping them measure and grow in key areas of employee and customer engagement.

Megan Hunt, owner of Princess Lasertron, is taking her bridal designs to new markets.

For Megan Hunt, founder of Princess Lasertron bridal designs, EAS has empowered her to take a more proactive approach to growth. The company, started in Omaha in 2005, is now taking a bigger view of its potential market.

“I think the most valuable thing we gained from the program is the confidence that we are the experts at what we do,” Hunt said. “Moreover, with the increase of motivation and focus we received from EAS, we have also begun negotiating an international licensing deal that would place our product and brand on store shelves all over North America.”

EAS helped Intellicom, an IT services company based in Kearney, tweak its practices and accelerate its growth.

“We turned our five-year plan into a two-year plan,” said Dan Shundoff, Intellicom president and CEO. “Driven by the new focus on employee strengths, we are bringing incredible value to our client relationships – the ultimate competitive advantage. Key performance indicators show a 75 percent increase in profit and 24 percent increase in employee productivity during the fall of 2011.”

The mentoring program helps to instill best practices that will equip Nebraska businesses not only to grow, but to sustain and thrive through the growth process. Hudl, a Lincoln-based firm that creates software and video editing systems for sports coaches, acquired a competitor this year and more than doubled not only its customer base but also its workforce. With that growth came challenges, CEO David Graff said.

“The EAS gave us a better understanding of issues brewing at the lowest levels through the employee engagement assessment and a better view of the strengths of the leadership team,” Graff said. Graff added that EAS helped Hudl identify the need to add a management tier to what had been very flat organization.

For the Phoenix Web Group, EAS has resulted in increased projects and profits. “As a direct result of employing some of the engagement techniques and concepts with our clients, we have booked nine new projects in just the last month,” company president Neil Johnson said. The custom software developer from Waverly reported that new projects combined with increased productivity lead to a seven-fold increase in profits compared to 2010.

“The future looks very bright at Phoenix Web group,” Johnson said. “As far as the EAS system goes, am I a believer? Yes, I am.”

Ball said that the EAS program is intensive and takes a significant amount of time from entrepreneurs, not just to meet with mentors and attend meetings, but to implement the changes and processes.

“It comes down to time allocation, which is the big question that faces small business owners every day,” Ball said.

Nebraska Entrepreneur will continue to follow the businesses that are part of EAS and publish periodic reports throughout the two-year program.

Funding will be the topic of our next series on Nebraska Entrepreneur. Big to small, the topic comes up in some form for most startups.

When Alice Dittman was a banker, she wasn’t able to give all the loans she wished she could. Now that she has retired as the president and CEO of Cornhusker Bank, Dittman is loaning money on her terms. In August, Dittman established Alice’s Integrity Loan Fund and four businesses are already benefiting from this micro-lending program that invests in underserved entrepreneurs.

Alice Dittman

“My career was made through people who took a chance on me at a time when women were not influential in business,” Dittman said in a press release announcing the program. “There are plenty of great business plans with smart entrepreneurs that have been overlooked much like I could have been.”

Sarah Allison of Hallow Candle Company needed money for inventory and marketing heading into the busy fall season. Her store in central Lincoln specializes in soy candles, goat milk soaps and spa products.

“The Alice Integrity Loan Fund has enabled us to be ready and successful in our busiest time of the year,” Allison said. ”Without the funding, we wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of the business we’ve been offered.”

Dittman is investing $1 million in the loan fund over the next three years to provide capital to individuals who are committed to becoming self-sustaining entrepreneurs. Loans of up to $5,000 may be used for start-up ventures or to fund growth opportunities for existing businesses. The loan is payable over three years at 6 percent interest. The fund is managed by Deb Payne at the Community Development Resources.

“When Alice was the owner of a bank, she often had to turn people down for loans because of the requirements of the bank,” Payne said. ”With this program she is able to do away with some of those requirements and give loans to people she believes in.”

Loan applicants are evaluated on character, their ability to carry out their business idea and their commitment to repaying the loan — in other words, their integrity. Lack of collateral or a poor credit score will not necessarily keep a business from receiving money from the fund. In fact, the fund is not intended primarily for individuals with better-than-average credit scores.

The thing that will keep applicants from getting funded, Payne said, is the lack of a business plan.

The Hallow Candle Co. used funding for inventory and marketing.

“The key to getting the loan is just like with any other loan, you’ve got to have a business plan,” she said. “Several people have come in with ideas in their heads, but nothing on paper. The business plan is the key to the whole thing.”

Loan participants must also be willing to accept mentoring from the Nebraska Business Development Center and the Service Core of Retired Executives. Payne, herself an entrepreneur and business coach, also works with program participants on understanding everything from giving a business pitch to using social media.

“This is a super opportunity,” Payne said. ”When someone receives a loan, they also get free coaching.”

Payne remembers securing funding for her first business, a text book store in Topeka, Kan. She did not know anyone in Topeka, but she had a business plan and made a list of five banks. She saved her top two banks for last.

“I went to the other three first and practiced my business pitch and revised my plan. Then I went to the two local banks I really hoped to work with,” she said. “The banker who gave me the business loan also gave me a home loan. That’s the great thing about local banks. He knew I needed somewhere to live in the community.”

Payne describes the first phase of Dittman’s loan fund as a pilot year that focuses on Lincoln and Lancaster County.  Dittman hopes to give 100 loans between now and next August. If the program is working well, it could be expanded statewide, Payne said.

Patty Kreifels is using her $5,000 loan to buy equipment and begin marketing her new business, Picture this Digital Inventory Service. Picture This provides video and photo inventories of personal and business assets.

“Alice’s Integrity Fund has not only helped Picture This with funds for equipment and marketing to start my business, but it has been the catalyst with contacts with other entrepreneurs for our brochures and website,” Kreifles said.

Loans have also been given to Raylene Parks to expand her business, Simplicity Salon, and to Jolene John-Beckstrom to help her open her counseling practice, Vision-Focused Counseling.

“Alice has helped my dream come true,” John-Beckstrom said. “She has provided the funds to begin my business but also set up the process of sustaining a successful business.”

While Dittman’s fund is currently limited to residents of Lancaster County,  a similar micro-finance program is available in Omaha through Grameen America.  The micro-lending  agency opened its Omaha branch in June 2009 and has loaned more than $3 million to 1,030 area entrepreneurs. Nationwide through its six branches, Grameen America has loaned more the $24 million and has a loan repayment rate of 99 percent.

Inc and Fast Company magazines have recently touted the program as a top entrepreneurship program in the nation. PIPELINE has also been recognized by State Science Technology Institute CEO Dan Berglund as “the next evolution of entrepreneurial capacity building in the United States.” “An immersion experience,” this program offers mentorships and expansive resources to identified, high-potential entrepreneurs to enable their growth. PIPELINE alum Rhythm Engineering recently made the list of Inc Magazine’s 500 fastest-growing companies. Reggie Chandra, CEO of Rhythm Engineering, explains his visions for the future and how PIPELINE has been a key to his company’s rapid growth. (http://vimeo.com/28072982)

Nebraska entrepreneurs now have the chance to apply for the regional class that will be selected for 2012. The deadline is Oct. 24. “We are eager to work with PIPELINE over the coming weeks to identify Nebraska entrepreneurs, mentors and partners who share this drive to foster innovative companies in our region,” said Dr. James Linder, president of the University of Nebraska Technology Development Corporation.

Ideal candidates should already be running their venture and entering a phase where a year of intense resources, skill building and netwotk-building will accelerate their growth and scale their venture. Applicants must be willing to spend the time and effort necessary for the fellowship experience. An informational meeting on PIPELINE will be held on Oct. 14 from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the Urban Wine Company in Omaha.

Also, more information on the PIPELINE  program is available at www.pipelineentrepreneurs.com.

The America Invents Act is the first comprehensive patent reform bill since the 1950s. It makes America’s patent system consistent with other nations in the global marketplace and has important implications for university researchers who want to move inventions into the marketplace.

NU has made significant strides in the last few years to provide innovation and entrepreneurial opportunities to students and faculty, enhance technology transfer, facilitate new university-industry collaborations on all four campuses, and recognize entrepreneurial excellence. The university’s efforts are aligned with goals outlined in an April 2011 letter from the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship to then-U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke. NU President James B. Milliken, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chancellor Harvey Perlman and University of Nebraska Medical Center Chancellor Harold Maurer were among the university signatories to the letter.

Among the leading NU initiatives is Nebraska Innovation Campus, a public-private business development that will house university and private R&D facilities focused on the areas of food, fuel and water. Milliken said, “Innovation Campus will be an important hub for collaboration between the university and the private sector. It will offer an environment that spurs innovation and business development, creates new jobs and brings new solutions to the marketplace.” This year, the State of Nebraska invested $25 million in Innovation Campus to jump-start development at the 200-acre campus in Lincoln. Those funds have been leveraged into $80 million in development. Consultants have estimated that ultimately, Innovation Campus could grow Nebraska’s annual payroll by $267 million.

Earlier this year, Milliken announced the appointment of a senior associate for innovation and economic competitiveness to lead NU’s diverse initiatives in technology development. James Linder, M.D., whose experience bridges academia and the business world, now leads the University Technology Development Corporation, which oversees NU’s four technology organizations: UNeMed, NUtech Ventures, the Peter Kiewit Institute Technology Development Corp. and the Nebraska Innovation Campus Development Corp. In addition to setting policy for technology development, UTDC provides development grants and is establishing an Entrepreneur in Residence program at each campus to provide business expertise to bring technologies invented by university faculty to the marketplace. “Linking the ideas of our faculty with the experiences of private sector professionals is a strong formula to unleash innovation happening in the University,” Linder said.

One example of university-business partnerships that are leveraging faculty expertise to create innovation in Nebraska is a recent licensing agreement between NUtech Ventures and Bayer CropScience AG. The agreement made $2 million available for an endowed professorship at UNL – now held by P. Stephen Baenziger, renowned wheat breeder – and also supports university research and education programs and plans for Bayer CropScience to establish its first North American wheat breeding station near Lincoln.

Opportunities for Students

All three of the university’s undergraduate campuses have active student entrepreneurship organizations designed to foster entrepreneurship and encourage collaboration between students and the business community:

• Students at the Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management at UNL work with business advisors and mentors whose companies range from small start-ups to Fortune 100 corporations – including AT&T, Boeing, PayPal, Google, Microsoft and others. Many Raikes students end up finding careers in those companies or starting their own business.
• The Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program nurtures entrepreneurship potential in students who want a career in agri-business through courses, entrepreneurship training camps, internships and a venture capital fund to support student start-up businesses.
• Combat Boots to Cowboy Boots at the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture in Curtis helps military personnel, veterans and their families to become farmers, ranchers and entrepreneurs. Combat Boots to Cowboy Boots utilizes existing federal programs to match participants with farmers, ranchers and entrepreneurs and create business succession plans. NCTA also has programs to help students own their own farm or cattle ranch.
• UNO’s Center for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Franchising provides students with business fundamentals, opportunities through the Big Idea Elevator Pitch and other business plan competitions, and experience running a student-owned business.
• A new course developed by UNL Mechanical Engineering Professor Shane Farritor, an entrepreneur and inventor, teaches students how to link engineering and invention with entrepreneurial and business skills. Farritor’s own research has generated two startup companies: Virtual Incision innovative robotic surgery tools and MRail engineering solutions to improve railroad track safety.
• University of Nebraska 4-H educators pioneered EntrepreneurShip Investigation, a nationally recognized, interactive curriculum to develop entrepreneurial thinking and skills in youth, ages 10-19. The curriculum gives students the skills and tools to start a business in their own community.

Education and outreach

• The annual Nebraska Summit on Entrepreneurship draws hundreds of participants from education, government and business who spend the day networking and hearing from experts and fellow entrepreneurs. The Nebraska Entrepreneur website serves as an online resource for aspiring entrepreneurs in the state.
• NU recognizes exemplary efforts in student, faculty and business innovation through several university-wide awards:
  • The Innovation, Development and Engagement Award recognizes faculty who work with citizens, businesses, government, non-profit organizations, other educational institutions, communities or regions to develop new ideas, projects, technologies, events or businesses that strengthen the region or community.
  • The Walter Scott Entrepreneurial Business Award recognizes businesses with a presence in Nebraska that create partnerships with the university in the area of technology.
• The Peter Kiewit Student Entrepreneurial Award honors students for the creative and innovative use of information technology.