Overview of IERC
Welcome to the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research Center (IERC). The center contributes to spreading the culture of entrepreneurship and provides support to young people, helping them turn their dreams into reality, which not only builds their self-reliance but also strengthens the national economy. This is achieved through a comprehensive package of services, consultations, facilities, and support mechanisms provided for a specific period, enabling them to eventually become self-sufficient and establish their entrepreneurial projects outside the center's incubators.
Innovation and entrepreneurship research are important sources for the growth of modern economic systems and the enhancement of the prosperity and quality of life of their citizens. However, they can entail high economic and social costs and may cause major disruptions at the individual and societal level. In the context of digitalization, a number of new ethical questions arise which have an impact on the societal assessment of new technologies, new organizational forms and business models. By designing the framework conditions for innovation and entrepreneurship as well as through immediate interventions (e.g., incentive measures) policymakers are able to influence these processes. Another important field lies in the innovation management of companies which aims at improving the economic efficiency of innovation processes.
IERC acknowledges the broader role of innovation and entrepreneurial skills in our lives and in our futures. Whether our students desire to launch a company or work for a large corporation, it is the innovators and problem solvers – the true entrepreneurs – who create new ideas, products and services that better our society.
Our programs are designed to appeal to everyone from students, staff, industry, who are just trying to obtain a primer on entrepreneurship, to serial entrepreneurs. We believe in the value of interdisciplinary and experiential learning. Our hope is that the learning opportunities we offer empower the startups to not only learn how to become entrepreneurs and innovators, but also apply that learning at some point in their careers as students.
Mission
The mission of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research Centeris to:
- Foster a community that encourages superior learning, teaching, impactful research, and the development of business ventures
- Create a suitable environment to enhance innovation and transform promising ideas into entrepreneurial projects aligned with the general objectives of IARSAC International University's strategic plan.
Vision
Tobuild a thriving entrepreneurial community of starters, builders, advisors, and early-stage investorsnurture and incubate entrepreneurial ideas and projectson theoretical and practical issues, as well as how these issues impact national economic developmentthrough innovation and collaboration.
Purpose
The primary purpose of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research Center (IERC) is to promote and support research on innovation and entrepreneurship at IARSAC International University. This purpose defined to include: technological and science-based innovation, innovations in business operations, start-ups, new venture creation, social entrepreneurship, institutional entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, commercialization venture management, small and family-led business, economic development through business creation, start-up financing, service, healthcare innovation, and other related topics.
Objectives:
- Facilitate interdisciplinary research collaborations among faculty members at IIU
- Stimulating creativity and innovation in scientific research to increase the potential of transforming research and innovations into projects or products.
- Support undergraduate and graduate research on innovation and entrepreneurship.
- Promoting the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship within the university and the local community.
- Fostering a culture of creative thinking and providing high-value economic solutions and ideas that contribute to building a knowledge-based economy.
- Identify and explore innovation and entrepreneurship-related research topics that are relevant to the University, the local community, and beyond.
- Investing in the ideas and innovations of the university’s members and transforming them into products or commercial projects.
- Increasing the economic return and tangible outcomes from the university’s scientific research.
- Seek research funding from external sources for innovation and entrepreneurship-related research projects and programs.
- Supporting existing projects and accelerating their growth to enhance their social and economic contributions to the university and the local community.
- Building effective networks to support innovation and entrepreneurship with other supporting institutions.
- Seek opportunities to augment the curriculum and programming for students related to innovation and entrepreneurship.
- Marketing the university’s innovations and entrepreneurial projects both locally and globally.
Strategic Goals
- Transforming the university into an innovative institution.
- Promoting intellectual property rights and patents.
- Enhancing women's roles in entrepreneurship.
- Supporting the university's transformation into an innovative and pioneering university.
- Empowering and promote the role of women in the field of entrepreneurship.
Core Values
The IERC exists to promote scholarship in the area of innovation and entrepreneurship, guided by the following values:
- Capacity – We build capacity within our members, students, and the community through the center activities
- Integrity – We maintain the highest ethical standards in research
- Curiosity – We encourage intellectual curiosity
- Collaboration – We promote interdisciplinary collaboration
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion - We support the creation of a diverse, equitable, and inclusive research community.
- Innovation and Impact: We prioritize innovation in research, including the translation of discoveries, public engagement, and dissemination of knowledge
- Openness and Transparency: We actively seek input from the research community, make reasoned decisions that are fair and principled, and share information in a transparent manner.
- Resilience: We respond to new information and changing conditions in ways that enable rapid learning and flexibility while maintaining continuity and adaptability for our research enterprise. We approach current opportunities and challenges with an eye towards the long-term resilience.
Research
Research Field
Project Management
Including project evaluation, planning and control, project risk management and project financing issues
Innovation Management
Including innovation networks based on the perspective of globalization, innovation strategy, innovation model, innovation as well as the diffusion and transfer of innovation.
Entrepreneurship Management
Including the operation of new enterprises and growth management, capital markets and entrepreneurial relationships, ecological networks assessment of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial.
IERC Research Integrity
We are proud of our reputation for excellent research at the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research Center (IERC), and for the caliber, dedication, and professionalism of our research community. IERC understands that integrity is an essential characteristic of all aspects of research at the center, and we are entrusted with undertaking research we must clearly and consistently demonstrate that the confidence placed in our research community is rightly deserved.
IERC therefore ensures that everyone engaged in research is trained to the very highest standards of research integrity and conducts themselves and their research in a way that respects the dignity, rights, and welfare of participants, and minimizes risks to participants, researchers, third parties, and the center itself. IERC research integrity services include:
- Principles, training, and education for conducting research with integrity.
- Definitions regarding what represents misconduct, how to report concerns, and the processes associated with those reports.
- Policies and procedures for engaging in activities outside the IIU when the employee has sponsored research.
- Policies and procedures for working with human participants in research, including whether projects require review by our institutional review board.
- Policies and procedures for engaging in activities outside the IIU.
- Procedures for adhering to federal regulations that govern items and information that IIU employees may share with non-U.S. citizens.
IERC Research Impact
Our research changes lives, drives innovation and regional growth, and is aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It impacts on our culture and society as well as on our health and well-being, our economy and our planet.
Research Units
The units of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research Center (IERC) include:
1. Innovation Unit:
We strive to foster creativity by organizing camps, and competitions, turning innovative ideas into prototypes through various projects and initiatives.
2. Entrepreneurship Unit
This unit is concerned with establishing partnerships and agreements that enhance innovation, marketing of products and services, and sustainable investment opportunities.
3. Intellectual Property Office
The unit is dedicated to protecting and enhancing intellectual property rights, registering inventions, and transforming innovative ideas and creations into tangible commercial and industrial products.
PNU CODE Lab
The IARSAC International University CODE Lab aims to stimulate innovation and improve the entrepreneurship ecosystem for digital leadership efforts. The goal is to establish a collaborative space that prioritizes connection and cooperation, bridging the gap between digital entrepreneurial projects and startup companies. The program provides dreamers with creative solutions through a bundle of services and programs that specialize in bolstering and supporting entrepreneurs and creative.
CODE Lab Objectives
- Transforming creative ideas and pitches into actionable prototypes
- Establishing a lively digital leadership community
- Reinforcing, strengthening, and enabling the use of modern technology within startup companies
- Providing the essential services needed by startup projects to develop and advance their ideas
- Providing and understanding of startup culture and digital entrepreneurship programs
- Accelerating the digitization of information and strengthening our contribution to the local efforts and output under the digital economy
CODE Lab Services
- Lab Facilities - Reserving the facilities your business needed.
- Technical Support - Providing Tech support through all the project stages.
- Incubation Program - Improving your digital project
- Modeling Lab - conducting various manufacturing experiments for prototypes.
- Business Clinics - Getting different types of consultations.
Target Audience
- Entrepreneurs
- Innovators
- Inventors
- Digital Ideators
- College Students
- Scientists
- Technologists
Services and programs
SERVICES AND PROGRAMS
Provide comprehensive data support, including analysis, report development, metrics, and related services to internal stakeholders, to guide strategic decision-making and support faculty research goals.
Trainings -
This center believes in capacity building for student innovation and entrepreneurship. It develops and deploys patent drafting training for both internal and external students. The vision is to become a master training team for school students, internal and external innovators.
Solving Societal Problems -
This center inculcates the habit of seeing the United States-specific problems and societal challenges as opportunities to nurture future innovators.
- Intellectual Property Protection –
The center is dedicated to protecting and enhancing intellectual property rights, registering inventions, and transforming innovative ideas and creations into tangible commercial and industrial products.
Consultation Services –
The center offers comprehensive consultation services to help individuals and organizations bring their innovative ideas to life. Our team of experienced facilitators, advisors, and consultants provides customized support and guidance, including market analysis, strategic planning, financial modeling, and more.
Empowerment –
The center is committed to empowering entrepreneurs and innovators to achieve their goals, and we work closely with our clients to ensure their success.
Customized innovation workshops
You can request customized workshops to be delivered at your company on your own schedule.
We cover subjects like:
- Customized management and staff training in areas like strategy, leadership and Lean Thinking
- Design thinking (one-day and three-day workshops)
- Ideation and creativity
Signature Programs
The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research Center entrepreneurship education is the University-wide initiative. This program is open to all students regardless of major, as well as faculty and staff, our courses and programs focus on developing entrepreneurial thinking through a forward-focused curriculum designed to enhance success in careers or independent ventures.
Creating the Business Innovation Opening (BIO)
Creating the Business Innovation Opening (BIO) is the University’s undergraduate entrepreneurship program focused on developing undergraduate student competency in the following areas:
- Business planning and opportunity recognition
- Project management
- Financial management
- Marketing and branding
- Social entrepreneurship
Through courses, seminars, and internships, the BIO program addresses underemployment by ensuring that students are career-ready, either though the launch of their own enterprises or as employees in entrepreneurial organizations. Successful completion of the BIO program will result in students creating a viable business plan and being eligible to test for project management certifications and/or earn badges for completion.
PARTNERSHIP
Transformation to a knowledge economy through partnerships
Overview
The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research Center understands that growing your business is an ongoing process. IERC’s mission is to foster an innovation ecosystem in the University and abroad. To do this, we are working not only to bolster our own activities and programs, but also to partner with other companies, nonprofits and government organizations in the region.
IERC offers a variety of teaching and learning opportunities for large and medium-sized businesses. These opportunities are designed to help United States companies develop an “intrapreneurship” mindset, create an innovation culture and accelerate new products or service developments that will help diversify the regional economy.
The mission of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research Center (IERC) is to help maximize IIU’s contribution to the economic diversification of the United States and globally to a knowledge-based economy through partnership with notable research centers, scholars associations, academic institutions, government educational agencies, educational foundations, and corporate bodies.
Industry Engagement at IERC
What IERC offers to industry?
Partnering for impact
The Industry Collaboration Program (ICP-IERC) facilitates great ideas between the center’s world-class research community and the broader world. Our deep tech ecosystem is a destination where research comes to life, and it’s our mission to foster even greater innovation through deeper connection and collaboration.
ICP-IERC membership means access to a research community that can impact your organization’s future. We actively partner with businesses and government entities to provide them access to the University’s research and technology, faculty and student talent, facilities and training, as well as seminars and other major events.
Membership to ICP-IERC means access to a research community that can impact your organization’s future.We actively partner with businesses and government entities to provide them access to the University’s research and technology, faculty and student talent, facilities and training, as well as seminars and other major events.
Collaborate on a Research Project
Work with us and apply the brightest minds to your research and development needs.
The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research Center is working on deep tech R&D and innovation in the United States and globally. In world-class labs, you’ll find scientists, startups, and companies working together to discover new applications for research and develop new technology.
One of IERC’s key advantages is that it provides partners with opportunities to conduct experimental research in an empowering environment with exceptional facilities, equipment and support. The cross-disciplinary research environment offers industry new perspectives and leads to innovative solutions.
The IERC’s industry partners also have access to the University’s state-of-the-art Core Labs, a facility with specialized research equipment and expert engineers and scientists.
Industry Collaboration
IERC was founded with industry collaboration in mind. We work with companies, private sector entities, nonprofits and government organizations to transfer knowledge and technologies created at the University and achieve public benefit and economic development.
Your organization can:
- Join our industry collaboration program
- Attend corporate innovation training
- License IERC technologies
- Conduct R&D at IERC
- Invest in IERC startups
- Hire world-class talent
IERC Innovation Ecosystem
Top-quality education and world-leading research define us, but they are only part of our vision. We are also an institution of enterprise and a gateway for industry looking to establish a foothold in the United States.
IERC is joining deep tech R&D in the United States and around the world as one of the leading innovation hubs. Our deep tech ecosystem is a destination where research comes to life, and it’s our mission to foster even greater industry innovation through deeper connection and collaboration.
Through sponsored research agreements or utilizing our laboratories, office spaces, or pilot testing and scale-up facilities, IERC can help businesses problem solve and accomplish their goals for growth in the region.
Partnerships are powerful. We believe when the right minds get together to lower the barriers of innovation, remarkable things can happen. We can connect you with the departments and contacts that interest you, either within IERC or elsewhere in the United States and abroad. These collaborations will help contribute to the economic diversification of the United States and its transformation to a knowledge-based economy.
Technology Transfer
Technology transfer is the process of bringing research outputs from the laboratory to the marketplace. We encourage innovators in the IERC community to protect and commercialize their innovations, and work with them to advance their work into commercial products or services.
IERC’s technologies are available for joint development, patent licensing or other mutually beneficial relationships.