By Deniece Griffin
The Georgia University Entrepreneurship Initiative (GUEI) Spring 2021 Virtual Conference was held on Wednesday, April 7th with over 50 in attendance.
The purpose for this collaborative has always been to bring faculty and staff of Georgia institutions of higher education together to focus on common goals. Lead by Paul Lopez, of TiE Atlanta, this conference’s overarching message was – “How Might We…?”. With a focus on innovation, the first group tackled the topic of – How Might We Increase Intentional Cross-Disciplinary Innovation? Facilitated by Nicole Morris of Emory University, two students joined her panel. Peter Stakoun from GA Tech’s Startup Exchange and Nuri Jeong from Emory University discussed their experiences with intentional cross-disciplinary innovation first-hand. Afterwards, all virtual participants were assigned breakout rooms to further the conversation to examine and reflect on how their institution could benefit from best practices shared.
The second group’s topic was – “How Might We Increase Student Understanding of Corporate Innovation and Intrapreneurship Pathways?” Lead by Amelia Schaffner of Emory University, along with, Michael McCathren in Enterprise Innovation at Chick-Fil-A, Gary Gramajo in New Ventures at Chick-Fil-A, Greg Hearn a Lead Product Manager with Cox Automotive, Manheim, and Alan Quigley an Emory-Goizueta MBA and Engage Ventures Associate. Each of the panelists shared their unique business backgrounds and experiences. Again, virtual breakout rooms were assigned for a deeper dive into the topic.
After such strong conversation and dialogue, Mr. Lopez concluded with a synopsis of the day’s activities, next steps and community announcements.
To learn more about GUEI, visit their LinkedIn page here.