University of Maryland's ventureaccelerator

Abstract

It should be noted that while the four VA companies have benefited greatly from the VA process, and it is believed that they are properly set up to be successful, only time will tell how successful they will be in the long-term. Nevertheless, the successful initiation of the Program has generated a number of benefits and rewards. UM and the Clark School are benefiting from evidence of leadership, recruiting differentiation, and financial development. Realizing that there is a probability associated with the success of each startup company, the fact that an orderly process and experienced mentoring is applied to each VA Company should increase the chance of success. Accordingly, the region should benefit from economic development gains vis-à-vis job and tax revenue growth. Finally, societal benefits should be enjoyed because of graduating skilled technologists with entrepreneurial (or intrepreneurial) inclinations, as well as by bringing valuable innovations to customer markets. It is believed that the VentureAccelerator Program could be replicated at other universities. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2007.