Spring Break
Students work together in Global Entrepreneurship Week
Zohaib Ahmad
Issue date: 11/21/08 Section: News
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"Drexel University is renowned for educating our students to be innovative, entrepreneurial, and leaders in their academic and professional lives. Just as the University embodies enterprising optimism, Global Entrepreneurship Week conveys that optimism across Greater Philadelphia. Events held during this week will demonstrate how the entrepreneurial spirit provides a remedy to current economic and financial challenges," Drexel President Constantine Papadakis said in a news release.
The University attempts to bring in outside personnel who are representative of this process to augment student exposure and to allow them to see the "world" from another perspective, Jean MacFadyen, assistant clinical professor at the College of Nursing and Health Professions and an organizer of the event, said.
Global Entrepreneurship Week was set up to counterpoint the current economic downturn.
Technology could be one of the key components for this looming economic crisis, Majd Alwan, the event's keynote speaker, said.
"It is our hope that the spirit of entrepreneurship will permeate our student body and provide hope for a future where innovation and creativity will lead to strong relationships and improved economic health," Terri McIlhenney, director of programs and services at the Laurence A. Baiada Center for Entrepreneurship, said.
"Currently there is a need in the aging market due to a lack of financial resources and health care," Alwan said.
Alwan, East Coast director of the Center for Aging Services Technologies, described innovations thought up through interdisciplinary efforts of the government, academia, health care and corporations.
"No one invention or innovation is the result of an individual. We could all benefit from collaborating together," Alwan said.
Alwan said he foresaw the need for new technology in the aging market due to the fact that the baby boomer generation will be retiring around 2011.
"The value of the lecture on innovative technologies for the aging market is both broad and specific. It is the process of innovation that is important to understand," MacFadyen said.
The lecture was followed by a student competition where groups of students presented their innovations in the aging market for three minutes in front of a panel of judges.
"Drexel students have opportunities to participate in competitions and workshops and to network with some very experienced practitioners and knowledgeable faculty members," McIlhenney said.
Other events included "Opportunities for Entrepreneurship for the non-U.S. Citizen: A Legal Perspective," "Being Your Own Boss: The Road from College Student to Entrepreneur" and "The Science of Business: Leadership and Entrepreneurship."
Drafted from Global Enterprise Week in the United Kingdom, which started in 2004, and EntrepreneurshipWeek USA in 2007, Global Entrepreneurship Week was held in 77 countries.
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