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Horn Entrepreneurship celebrates fifth anniversary

Article by Meg Marcozzi October 06, 2017

Jason Hinman

Horn will engage more than 1,500 students from all seven of UD’s colleges during 2017-18

The University of Delaware celebrates the fifth anniversary of Horn Entrepreneurship, a multi-faceted initiative dedicated empowering innovators and entrepreneurs as they pursue new ideas for a better world.

UD has been successfully fostering of a spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship across campus. Over the past five years, Horn Entrepreneurship has developed courses, degree offerings and enrichment programming that will engage more than 1,500 students from all seven of UD’s colleges this year. This represents a 15-fold increase from 2012.

Charlie Horn speaks at the Horn Entrepreneurship five year anniversary event.

Horn Entrepreneurship has also established venture support and commercialization pathways offering mentorship, resources and guidance to help students and faculty transform ideas and nascent technologies into viable ventures. Its internationally acclaimed youth entrepreneurship education platforms – the Diamond Challenge for High School Entrepreneurs and the Youth Entrepreneurship Summit - have had a positive impact on more than 3,500 high school students from 25 U.S. states and 35 countries.

“We will continue to expand and optimize a rich array of entrepreneurship education opportunities,” Horn Founding Director Dan Freeman said. “In the near future, UD will begin to offer a set of undergraduate certificates in entrepreneurship, providing relevant and accessible educational opportunities to all UD students without adding time to their degree programs. We will also open a new university-wide makerspace, bring heightened visibility to UD’s maker network and continue to add value to our venture support and commercialization pathways so that life changing ideas and technologies make it into the marketplace.”

Many Horn Entrepreneurship success stories are the direct result of the engagement and support of the broader entrepreneurial community. Seasoned entrepreneurs as well as business and thought leaders annually devote thousands of hours for the benefit of UD students, serving as adjunct faculty, mentors, advisors, judges and speakers.

“We’ve developed and validated a new, network-based educational model in which each student serves as a nexus with extensive connectivity to experiential learning opportunities as well as faculty, staff, seasoned entrepreneurs, business leaders, community members and peer leaders,” said Freeman. “This model accelerates student learning and provides them with exponential benefits.”

About Horn Entrepreneurship

Horn Entrepreneurship serves as the University of Delaware’s creative engine for entrepreneurship education and advancement. Built and actively supported by successful entrepreneurs and thought leaders, Horn Entrepreneurship empowers aspiring innovators and entrepreneurs as they pursue new ideas for a better world. The University community is especially grateful for the vision of Charlie and Patty Horn, who made a generous $3 million commitment to establish Horn Entrepreneurship in 2012.