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.

The Find Funding page on the Office of the Vice President for Research, Scholarship and Creative Endeavors is a clearinghouse of internal and external research funding opportunities available to UT Austin researchers. The Find Funding page includes links to searchable databases containing funding opportunities in the Innovation and Economic Impact space applicable for innovators.

The Game Development and Design (GDAD) Program exists to graduate career-ready designers, developers and leaders in the game, AR/VR, and creative media industries, both in Texas and around the world. The GDAD Program is one of the top undergraduate game development programs in the U.S. We are merging the intellectual and creative powers of The University of Texas at Austin’s Arts and Entertainment Technologies, Computer Science, and Radio-Television-Film departments.

As a complement to The Navigator, the Innovation Concierge serves as a nexus for all innovation activity for faculty across the UT campus. The Innovation Concierge is well informed on innovation resources both within the institution, as well as the broader Austin and Texas ecosystems. Faculty are encouraged to connect as needed and the Innovation Concierge will provide a warm handoff to the correct point of contact.

Longhorn Startup Lab is a joint program with Capital Factory that allows student entrepreneurs to work on their startup under the guidance of successful mentors and provides students with a vast network they can use to accelerate growth. The Longhorn Startup Seminar is a semester-long class that brings guest speakers in to introduce students to the world of entrepreneurship. It is designed as a beginner course and students do not need a startup idea to be involved.

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.

The Office of Industry Engagement (OIE) negotiates all contracts related to private industry research funding. OIE endeavors to streamline negotiations to better accommodate industry financial cycles and assist UT faculty in their collaborative efforts with industry partners. OIE focuses on flexible engagements and expedited contractual negotiations, through collaboration with internal and external stakeholders and with support from the Office of Technology Commercialization.

The Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP) provides support for all externally sponsored projects, excluding those sponsored by industry. Services include review/submission of proposals, negotiation/acceptance of awards, and setup of financial accounts. OSP also manages budget changes, financial reporting, invoicing, subrecipient monitoring, award extensions and audits. OSP has training available for managing awards as well as compliance with university and sponsor policies/regulations.

For companies that have participated in our proposal preparation workshops and on-demand webinars, select 1:1 proposal preparation support may be available. Inquiries may be sent to Andrew Worden, Entrepreneurship Program Manager at Andrew.worden@austin.utexas.edu