Maybe you have all the knowledge required, but "just need a cool tool" to complete your project, said Thomas Wavering, executive director on the Innovation Hub.
"Maybe you're clueless where to begin. We have the people and staff with expertise to help you — even push you — and the resources to make your idea a reality," Wavering said.
Develop a mobile app in the code lab. Build a coffee table in the wood shop. Explore ancient art on cave walls in the visualization lab.
The Innovation Hub is not only for OU students, faculty and staff. Members of the public are encouraged to walk through the doors, even without an idea. The staff can supply a design challenge to solve and provide training on the equipment needed to get the job done.
"We are open to everybody. Everything here is free to use," Wavering said.
One thing often leads to another, he said. Someone who comes in to use the $14,000 embroidery machine sees someone using the laser cutter and asks to learn how to do that. The person using the laser cutter finds the 3-D printer intriguing.
Innovation comes from that environment of people sharing their ideas and technological experience, he said.
The business of innovation
It can be exciting and fun, but it's also serious business."It's unique to have in one space all these resources fully staffed. This is a dream 10 years in the making," said Daniel Pullin, dean of OU's Price College of Business.
"It's our flagship interdisciplinary classroom for experiential learning to propel today's entrepreneurs and create those for tomorrow."
Their ideas are what will grow and diversify Oklahoma's economy, Pullin said.
"The entrepreneurial mindset challenges the status quo and leads to a better future for us all," he said. "Everybody can be an entrepreneur."
All OU freshmen — not just business majors — are encouraged to take a course on the subject, where Pullin and a dozen other deans explain the role of entrepreneurship in each discipline.
That diversity is reflected in the spring 2018 class of interns working in the Ronni K. Irani Center for the Creation of Economic Wealth. They represents 14 OU colleges and 30 majors.
Pullin was recruited to OU in 2006 to launch the center, which today is housed in the Innovation Hub. The interns work with faculty on intellectual properties generated in OU research — guided by private sector entrepreneurs and business leaders — to bring the best ideas to the marketplace, Pullin said.
Teams of students also work to find solutions for small companies and nonprofits that cannot afford to hire experts. The students get real-world experience, and the clients get a free resource.
From inception to launch
The Innovation Hub offers a range of free entrepreneurial resources to help people get their small business ideas off the ground.OU students with a business idea, but no money to finance it, can apply for a Sooner Innovation Fund grant. Community members can learn about federal funding available for aspiring companies.
OU law students are available to offer free legal help with contracts, incorporation, leases and other business matters.
"There is a suite of services to support ideas from inception to launch," Pullin said.
Wavering said those seeking assistance don't have to worry about losing their intellectual property. Anyone who walks in with an idea, retains ownership of that idea, he said.
The Innovation Hub exists to inspire, to support and "to have a significant impact on the state," Wavering said.
"It's a tremendous resource for the state of Oklahoma. It helps today. It helps tomorrow."
©2018 The Oklahoman Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
