The Harkey Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies is the corner of Main and Main for all undergraduate entrepreneurs at the University of Texas. We support interdisciplinary education and enriched extra-curricular experiences for students at any stage in their entrepreneurial journey. From the Entrepreneurship Minor, to the Undergraduate Mentor Program, there is a resource to get you to your next step.

Home to Texas is a summer internship and workforce development program that facilitates UT undergraduates with well-paid internships and sociology research experiences designed to help them understand the underlying values of their home communities. The IC² Institute has partnered with UT Austin School of Undergraduate Studies and Texas Career Engagement for the program, matching early undergraduate students from all majors with employers in their hometowns as interns/researchers.

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.

The Inventors Program (IP) engages undergraduates in applied experiences where they generate solutions to interesting questions. IP is inclusive to students who may not typically identify as entrepreneurs or innovators. Student teams are scaffolded through tiered experiences where they explore problem-scoping and ideation and develop industry and scientific skills with prototyping and project pitches. An IP industry network prepares students for internships and future careers in STEM industries.

The LaunchPad at UT Austin is a resource hub that helps all undergraduate and graduate students explore entrepreneurship at UT. We help students identify where they are in their entrepreneurial journey – Explore, Ideate, Create, or Scale – then educate and connect them to resources across campus and in Austin. LaunchPad resources include events, coworking space, funding, bootcamps, accelerators, and other programs. We are a proud member of the global Blackstone LaunchPad Network of 46+ campuses.

The Longhorn Impact Fellowship at Texas provides UT-Austin students with impact-focused consulting experience. Selected Fellows are placed with sustainable corporations, start-ups, and nonprofits to solve sustainability challenges. Projects are completed in 10-12 weeks and must be related to sustainability, corporate philanthropy, impact/ESG investing, or social and environmental innovation. Scholarships are available for students with financial need.

March Economic Madness is an interscholastic competition, building on our internal student challenge, that provides university students an opportunity to form teams and compete across universities to develop fitted and beneficial solutions for real community problems. A two-tiered selection process is used, first at each university, then between universities for top teams. Presentations will be delivered online with no need for travel. Cash awards are provided to top teams.

One of the fastest growing minors in the Moody College of Communication, the Media and Entertainment Industries minor encourages students to critically assess and analyze the media and technology sectors from industrial and entrepreneurial perspectives. Our students are trained to think like entrepreneurs—to learn from the innovative thinking of historical media magnates and digital content creators alike—as well as apply those skills in a variety of experiential learning courses and assignments.

This course explores how to solve medical device design problems using systematic design thinking and practices. Students will interpret clinical needs and define an open engineering medical device design problem, including formulating engineering requirements/specifications to address a marketable need and generate concepts in a way that promotes both creativity and usefulness.

The Moffett Family Summer Entrepreneurship Academy (SEA) is an in-person, 8-week summer program for UT Austin undergraduates. SEA participants will complete 4 of 5 required courses for the Entrepreneurship Minor. Students will develop a foundational understanding of entrepreneurship, through terminology, case-based learning, key theories, and empirical-based practices, while working with local startups, corporate sponsors, McCombs alumni, and entrepreneurial mentors.