Lehigh Symposium Puts Focus on Entrepreneurship

Lehigh welcomed community and business leaders to campus Wednesday, Oct. 25, for a discussion on the role of universities in developing and supporting entrepreneurship and innovation.

Titled “Empowering Regional Impact Through Entrepreneurship,” the three-hour symposium in Lehigh’s new Health, Science and Technology Building delved into strategies that government, economic development and university leaders employ to support endeavors in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania, as well as in Germany’s Ruhr area.

A delegation from the Technical University of Dortmund in Germany, one of Lehigh’s partner universities, participated. The Ruhr region, formerly a coal mining region, is now recognized in Europe for its thriving startup ecosystem, driven in part by university-industry-government partnerships.

Participating in a morning panel discussion were Lehigh Provost Nathan Urban; Lehigh’s Vice Provost for Entrepreneurship Lisa Getzler; Don Cunningham, president and CEO of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation; and Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk. Attending from TU Dortmund were Gerhard Schembecker, vice president of finance and board director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Transfer; Daniela Giménez, junior professor of entrepreneurship and Dirk Kanngießer, Managing Director of TU Capital.

Urban, who moderated, told attendees: “Lehigh’s a place with momentum.” He pointed to Lehigh’s new College of Health, new buildings that include the Health, Science and Technology Building and the Business Innovation Building, and the university’s new strategic plan, Inspiring the Future Makers.

He said the strategic plan’s three pillars—Make it New, Make a Difference and Make it Together—tie in “strongly” to ideas of entrepreneurship. While identifying ideas that can positively change the world is essential, he said, “if you can’t act on them, you will never make a difference.” Lehigh plays a role in the region’s vitality by helping to supply the talent pool–students, postdoctoral candidates—and fostering research and discovery, he said.

Urban showed aerial footage of Lehigh’s Mountaintop campus, which contains 740 acres and now houses the ATLSS Engineering Research Center, Art, Architecture & Design and other programs. A key initiative of the strategic plan is to transform and “fully activate” the Mountaintop campus into a vital destination for the Lehigh community and beyond. Lehigh is exploring spaces for corporate sponsorships and community event space, as well as a graduate student and postdoc village.

The symposium wrapped up with a discussion on “Immigration and Innovation Systems.”