The Center for Creative Entrepreneurship (CCE) was formed to empower students in the cultural arts with the confidence, skillset and practice necessary to transform their passion and ideas into viable business opportunities. For too long creatives have missed out on learning the core fundamentals of building a sustainable business, or how to think entrepreneurially about their career. But the business of art has changed in the last decade, and requires the mindset that CCE empowers.

The Center for Entertainment & Media Industries provides opportunities for innovators and entrepreneurs interested in the media and tech industries. Our focus is on facilitating access to these industries, mapping their presence in Austin, and researching their convergence to assess and improve labor conditions and equity issues. In addition to speaker series that hone entrepreneurial skills and build professional networks, we support and promote research, outreach, and innovation projects.

The Herb Kelleher Entrepreneurship Center believes entrepreneurship should be accessible to all Longhorns. We recognize that there are many groups underrepresented in entrepreneurship that may find it difficult to connect with, and navigate, the entrepreneurial ecosystem on campus. At this summit, role models from diverse backgrounds share the ways in which an entrepreneurial education can increase professional opportunities.

The KS WEL Institute hosts monthly EmpowHER Hours for the UT community. EmpowHER hours help equip and empower our students through 1-hour presentations presented by UT Austin Alumnae. In the past, EmpowHER Hour topics ranged from Picking a Team, Interview Tips, Women in Consulting, Finding a Mentor, Investing Basics, Personal Branding, etc. You can sign up to attend EmpowHER Hours by visiting KS WEL Institute website!

The Entrepreneurship Live! speaker series features entrepreneurs from across different industries, enabling students and the community to experience live insights into how to launch an idea into a startup. Recent speakers include Tim League, Co-founder of Alamo Drafthouse, Vanessa Ogle, Founder and CEO of Enseo, and Julia Cheek, Founder of Everlywell.

The KS WEL Institute empowers and spotlights female-owned startups monthly through their application-based Featured Female Founders program. The Featured Female Founders program provides resources and exposure to the Austin startup community for these founders. Come stop by the KS WEL Institute or apply online if you're interested in becoming a Featured Female Founder!

The Graduate Entrepreneurship & Innovation Club is a student organization focused on supported the entrepreneurial curiosity and passion of it's members. It a club for current and future founders, intrapreneurs, and early-stage employees to network, learn, and develop as future leaders.

At the Herb Kelleher Entrepreneurship Center, our dedicated focus is on fostering the growth of entrepreneurial skills and empowering Longhorns to embrace this mindset in their careers, whether through starting their own businesses or driving innovation within established industries. UT founders can tap into the HKEC’s wealth of entrepreneurial resources through our networking and funding opportunities, interactive speaker events, one-on-one mentorship, pitch competitions, and our semester-long practicum, the Forty Acres Founders Program.

Interactive and experiential workshops feature entrepreneurs from various industries and on-campus experts. Ignite Startup Workshops enable students, faculty, staff, and the startup community to gain usable skills and insights in how to launch an idea into a startup.

Resources for understanding how engaging with industry for your research works at UT Austin and tools to help find industry funding and support.