With colleges and universities increasingly viewed as drivers of economic development and business evolution, The University of Baltimore and Loyola University Maryland hosted the 2021 Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC) Annual Meeting in Baltimore on Oct. 13-16. 2021. This worldwide gathering of experts, representing higher education and its connections to policymakers, business leaders and consumer interests, is designed to "advance excellence in entrepreneurship through the unique role" of university-based centers where entrepreneurship is taught and nurtured, according to the GCEC mission statement. UBalt's Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Loyola's Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship will share hosting duties for the event, which will take place at various locations throughout the city.
In coverage by Technical.ly Baltimore, Henry Mortimer, director of UBalt's Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, says the GCEC event will clarify the "engine of university entrepreneurship as a driver for economic development." For both city-based institutions, capturing that energy at the local level can be a game changer.
"Communities can be sustained and revitalized through entrepreneurship," Mortimer says. CEI and similar centers at other universities are "preparing students to go back into communities, run businesses and add to the economy."
The event's theme, "Leading with Entrepreneurship: Succeeding in Revitalization," showcased examples of how higher education and entrepreneurs are leading the way to create the new companies that are transforming their communities. Baltimore's many co-working spaces, business incubators, and dozens of federal research labs, all within a 30-mile radius, provide a broad, close knit entrepreneurial ecosystem that makes the region a desirable "Surge City" in which to start and grow a business. Paired with the significant contributions of 13 metropolitan colleges and universities to this entrepreneurial stance, the Baltimore region is home to many new, successful companies—particularly in the tech sector—which are in turn bolstering the city's ongoing revival.
"With its many entrepreneurial experts, Baltimore can experience positive change in every neighborhood," says University of Baltimore President Kurt L. Schmoke. "More people, just starting out in life or in the middle of a career, are recognizing the opportunities that come from working on their own ideas, in their own ways. It's up to us, across the city and the region, to support their talent and determination. The impact on local communities when we do so is enormous, and it's growing every year."
Read about the GCEC conference in Technical.ly Baltimore.
Learn more about the 2021 GCEC conference and the GCEC.
Learn more about UBalt's Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation