May was an exciting and eventful month for Indiana, and not just because of the excitement of the NBA playoffs, the emergence of WNBA rookie star Caitlin Clark and the historic finish of the Indy 500.
If you blinked, you might have missed a series of major new developments in innovation and entrepreneurship as Indiana announced several entrepreneurship-focused initiatives to boost investment in promising startups and fast-growing companies.
Governor Eric Holcomb and Elevate Ventures announced a $100 million fund to help Indiana startups grow and provide capital to stay in Indiana.
In May, Indiana hosted the second Indiana World Economic Summit, welcoming business, academic and government leaders from more than 30 countries and regions. The summit focused international attention on the state’s leadership in innovation across a number of key industries. The event built anticipation for next year’s Global Entrepreneurship Conference. Indianapolis will be the second U.S. location to host the annual conference, which brings together entrepreneurs, policymakers, investors and startup ecosystem builders from around the world, since the first conference in 2009.
Here in Bloomington, IU Ventures, an early-stage company with deep ties to Indiana University, welcomed 250 of the best and brightest innovators from IU’s rapidly expanding entrepreneurial ecosystem “back” to campus for the third annual IU Founders and Funders Network Venture Summit. The sold-out event gave members of IU’s startup ecosystem the opportunity to connect with industry leaders and potential partners, build relationships to support their efforts, and learn about innovative startups and investment opportunities. The event also showcased IU Innovates, a new university-wide initiative to expand support for students and faculty in creating and growing startup ventures, and Quarry AI, which accelerates the development of AI and software projects born from IU’s world-class research enterprise.
All of this activity demonstrates Indiana’s progress in promoting new business and innovation that will drive our economy of the future.
But we cannot rest on our laurels. Now is the time for Indiana to act boldly.
As Caitlin Clark would say, “It’s time for Hoosiers to ‘Start with the Logo.'”
In 2021, the Indiana Center for Business Research at Indiana University’s Kelley College of Business found that Indiana companies founded less than five years ago accounted for the majority of net job growth in the state and contributed an estimated $11.5 billion to Indiana’s GDP. Indiana’s goal is to put more effort into helping emerging entrepreneurs access capital, industry partners, talent and expertise, mentorship, training and other critical resources to enable them to turn their big ideas into full-fledged, successful businesses.
The state’s top universities must further inspire the business potential of their entrepreneurially-minded faculty, students and staff through comprehensive entrepreneurship programs such as IU’s renowned Johnson Center for Entrepreneurial Education, experiential learning that immerses students in the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, executive-in-residence programs that allow members to mentor and mentor founders, companies and investors, and community-building and networking events such as the IU Venture Summit.
Finally, we must do more to foster a vibrant and sustainable entrepreneurial culture across our state.
As Indiana residents, we are humbled by our success and let our hard work speak for itself. By more proactively recognizing and celebrating the contributions of our entrepreneurs, we can foster innovation, creativity, collaboration, resilience and risk-taking, furthering Indiana’s reputation as a place where startups can truly thrive.
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Armstrong is vice president of Indiana University and president and CEO of IU Ventures.
