The Innovative Technologies Complex (ITC) was filled with entrepreneurial spirit as innovators from across the Southern Tier met with students at the Center of Excellence for a workshop on ideation, or how business ideas are created.
During the event Monday night, hosted by the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Partnerships, four presenters from the Southern Tier Innovation Hotspot Entrepreneurs In Residence (EIR) Program offered advice to students and locals about how to make their own successful ideas.
According to Brad Treat, an EIR and an entrepreneurship instructor at Ithaca College, the program is designed to provide free expert advice to Binghamton-area students and community members hoping to get into entrepreneurship.
“The goal of the program is to help entrepreneurs grow here, stay here and succeed here,” Treat said.
Over the past few years, Binghamton University has become involved with local entrepreneurial ventures. Some examples include the start-up suites at the ITC and the involvement in the $19 million Southern Tier High Technology Incubator.
The discussion focused on identifying problems that innovative individuals can solve. The presenters emphasized finding niche issues for which innovators can use their already available resources to solve.
“Sometimes the original idea isn’t that unique,” said Brian Bauer, another EIR and a former energy manager for companies including BP. “It is how you deal with the unique challenges that come up that really matters.”
The four entrepreneurial experts have had a wide variety of advice stemming from their varying life and career experiences. Ken Rother, an entrepreneur who has built two tech and media startups, talked about several topics including the “sharing economy.” The “sharing economy” refers to businesses where individuals pool their assets and make them available to others in a profitable way.
“It’s all about access, not ownership,” Rother said. “Think Airbnb, it’s all about the sharing of resources.”
The dozens of attendees were composed of a wide swath of the local entrepreneurial community, including local established business owners, community members and students interested in business.
While the majority of attendees were not affiliated with Binghamton University, several students showed up to absorb the advice of the professional entrepreneurs.
“I was interested in coming here tonight because I am considering developing an app myself,” said Chelsea Satine, a senior majoring in English. “From this event I learned that it’s okay to share ideas and get help from other people, because not everyone is out to steal each other’s ideas.”
Tony Worm, a second-year doctoral candidate studying computer science, said he had started a new venture with his roommate to connect local musicians through an online platform just a few weeks ago and hoped to network with similarly minded people.
“You have to take all the assumptions you have about your great, visionary idea and actually take it to people and find out what they really want,” Worm said.
Other attendees said they were happy with increasingly visible efforts by the University to become involved with Southern Tier business ventures.
“When people come together like this, the community can get so much done,” said Emily Burnett, a resident of Binghamton. “We can achieve so much when people come out to things like this.”