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.

The Harkey Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies Living Learning Community(HIES LLC) is a first of its kind community that will admit incoming students directly into the Entrepreneurship Minor. This entrepreneurial living learning community provides students with access to entrepreneurship classes, campus housing, and the McCombs business community, a credential program that is usually reserved for admitted upperclassmen students.

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.

At Intro to the UT/Austin Startup Ecosystem, students, faculty, staff, and the general public are invited every fall to explore the diverse and expert network of resources at UT and in Austin dedicated to empowering entrepreneurs and innovators. Hosted by the Herb Kelleher Entrepreneurship Center, this presentation and trade show is the perfect opportunity for all levels of engagement in the local startup scene.

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 James D. Pippin Veteran Entrepreneurship Award is a $1,000 prize awarded to one of the top teams in the Texas Venture Labs Investment Competition with one or more U.S. military veteran cofounders. The award is named after James D. Pippin, a Retired Command Sergeant Major in the U.S. Army who served with RideScout co-founder and CEO Joseph Kopser. Sergeant Major Pippin is the only active duty serviceman to have conducted three airborne combat jumps.

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.

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.

Texas Momentum is a student organization on a mission to create a vibrant entrepreneurship community for students. We run a semester-long startup accelerator that connects student-founders with product managers, software engineers, and designers to build, launch, and scale their venture. Membership in Momentum is open to all majors.