HCC offers innovative ideas at virtual symposium
Jul 6, 2020
Some of the top minds in innovation and entrepreneurship in higher education came together to share best practices and emerging technologies at the 9th Annual Deshpande Symposium June 11-12.
Ravi Brahmbhatt, director of Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Houston Community College, was among the panelists at the virtual gathering that drew over 1,200 participants.
The symposium included over 28 panel discussions covering an array of topics, including tracks focusing on entrepreneurial culture and ecosystems, innovative entrepreneurship curricula, research commercialization, startups and emerging trends.
Leaders from universities, business incubators, foundations and other organizations explored ways to foster a culture of innovation, embed entrepreneurship in the curriculum, accelerate technology commercialization and establish partnerships with businesses and the community.
“Conferences like the Deshpande Symposium are essential in sharing best practices to blend innovation and entrepreneurship throughout the educational community,” said Brahmbhatt, who has organized successful ‘Inventathons’ at HCC. “I am excited to share what we have learned at HCC with the broader higher ed community.”
In a typical weekend ‘Inventathon,’ or hackathon, students in teams of two to five members are introduced to an issue by experts and choose a challenge to address based on the problem. The teams develop technologies and solutions with the help of community mentors and their findings are presented to a set of judges for awards and recognition. A community showcase is held the next day.
HCC students have addressed a wide range of topics at recent INVENTATHON@HCC gatherings, from coding an app, to building a robot and creating a solution based on the theme of climate change with a special focus on water resiliency. Check out all of the pitched projects at https://inventathonhcc.devpost.com/submissions
For more details about entrepreneurial initiatives at HCC, visit hccs.edu/sw-entrepreneurship