The Kendra Scott Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute’s Alumnae Advisory Board (AAB) is a diverse and inclusive community across areas of study, industry, age, race, sexual orientation, and gender of Leaders and Self-starters who have a passion for Female Empowerment. The AAB hosts EmpowHER Hours, hosts networking events, & mentors students to equip the next generation of female leaders.

The Austin Technology Incubator (ATI) is the deep technology incubator of UT Austin. We nurture startups founded around scientific and engineering breakthroughs, particularly in healthcare and sustainability. For over 30 years ATI has served UT faculty, researchers, and students at many stages in their entrepreneurship journey with programs including ATI membership, NSF I-Corps, Texas Global Health Security Innovation Consortium, TEX Venture Mentoring Service, and Student Associate experiences.

This grant supports federal SBIR/STTR Phase I awardees to make their Phase II proposals more competitive while increasing UT’s Phase II funding rates. Grants are reviewed quarterly, and awards are up to $30,000.

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 Convergent Incubator program connects founders with engineers, designers, and business analysts needed to take ventures to the next level. Founders work with a technical project manager, a designer, and a team of engineers to build, add features, and scale the product. In unison, our team of business analysts set founders up for success in raising capital. We partner with organizations like Genesis to streamline the process for funding.

Here at The Dallas Morning News Innovation Endowment, we are working toward innovating journalism with our students. This means creating podcasts, building bots and planning community events. These projects give students the work experience they both want and need to develop stellar careers.

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 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!

Hosted by the Texas Innovation Center, KS WEL Institute's Female Founder Pitch Competition showcases emerging businesses and technologies that are paving the way to have a significant impact on the world. Open to all UT Austin undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, alumnae, and startup ecosystem women-founders, this startup competition aims to highlight innovation happening in the heart of Texas.

Genesis is a student-alumni partnership with over $1.8 million to distribute to student-founded companies through non-dilutive grants, along with the time and talent of our diverse and entrepreneurial leadership team. Genesis has helped founders develop their businesses, build their products, generate their first revenue, recruit cofounders and early employees, brainstorm ideas, and raise future funding from top investors. All students can apply for funding and mentorship.