4th Annual Social Venture Showcase April 5, 2008
The 4th annual Appalachian Ideas Network Social Venture Showcase will be held at the Hyatt Hotel in Lexington, Kentucky on April 5, 2008. For a registration form, please click here.
What is the Appalachian IDEAS Network?
The Appalachian IDEAS Network is a regional, multi-university, entrepreneurship education initiative, led by the University of Kentucky, designed to enable Appalachian undergraduate college students to develop entrepreneurial social ventures that address local community issues. At participating schools, teams of students partner with local organizations and develop an innovative, feasible business concept to address a local community issue. Select teams from each school attend an annual, regional competition where they showcase their entrepreneurial solutions and compete for grant awards to help implement their concept. The overall goals of the program are to:
- Educate students about the entrepreneurial process through the experience of pitching their venture concept and receiving feedback
- Provide visibility and grant support for student ventures with the potential to impact communities in Appalachia, and
- Foster a regional network of students, educators, and community leaders working to address issues in Appalachia.
With the support of the Appalachian Regional Commission, the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance, and other local organizations, six colleges across three states piloted the Appalachian IDEAS Network in 2005 and hosted the first regional Social Venture Showcase last April.
Make the Connection
This is where ideas and people meet. If you are a student looking for a team or part of a team looking for more members, clicking on the link below will help make that process a little easier. If you are a past participant, community mentor, or faculty member with some advice for current participants, click on the link below to share it.
Click HERE to connect with current and past participants in the Appalachian IDEAS Network.