Pathways to Impact™

Carolina faculty have knowledge that runs wide and deep: bio-medical research, social sciences, physical sciences, the arts and humanities, and a wide range of professional fields. You might think that these bright minds already know everything there is to know across the University.

However, there are exceptions. While faculty are experts in their fields of study, they aren’t born knowing how to be entrepreneurs. Most have never been involved in moving an idea from the lab or classroom into the market – until they first decide to do it. Then what? Questions quickly surface: What is involved in applying for a patent? How do you determine if it’s better to license a technology or create a company? And how do you even begin to launch a startup company or nonprofit?

Today, many Carolina innovators wrestle with these questions – and they simply don’t have the time or resources to chase down answers by themselves. Faculty are looking for a structured, consistent way to learn about the processes, legal issues and nuances involved in taking ideas to market.

How this opportunity makes a difference
At Carolina, we’re creating Pathways to Impact™, which is an online “mini MBA” for faculty who are interested in entrepreneurial endeavors. We realize that there are many roads that good ideas can take – novel applications of research, licensed technologies, commercial startups or social ventures. But to ultimately make an impact, innovators who pursue these ideas need the right guidance.

The Pathways to Impact program is focused on one goal: teaching faculty at the University the practical ins and outs of innovation and entrepreneurship. It’s about building their capacity to innovate at every step of the entrepreneurial journey. Pathways to Impact is a comprehensive, integrated learning platform designed specifically for entrepreneurs at UNC-Chapel Hill. This leading-edge program will:

• Educate faculty about how to transform ideas born on campus into commercial or social innovations in the market.
• Use a blended approach to learning: mass customization, just-in-time learning, online modules, in-person workshops, one-on-one coaching.
• Offer self-paced, adaptive e-learning modules for variety of learning levels.
• Help Carolina provide a comprehensive, consistent approach to entrepreneurial education that serves all faculty across campus.
• Use instructional content that is created and curated by a variety of subject matter experts: UNC faculty, startup and commercialization program leaders, mentors and coaches, entrepreneurs-in-residence and the UNC legal team.
• Feature a diverse curriculum to help innovators of all kinds: those working in the arts and humanities, the sciences, and professional fields like business, law, medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, public health and more.
• Prepare the University community with the skills to pursue other major initiatives – both on and off campus.

Why your gift matters
Your gift will help the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Economic Development build this program. Funding will support curriculum planning, developing a digital channel for delivering online content, and facilitating in-person instructional courses and mentoring sessions for entrepreneurs across the Carolina community.

With the right tools, support and guidance offered by the Pathways to Impact program, Carolina innovators will find ways to bring their ideas into the market. They’ll push innovations into the world. And they’ll spark new innovations inside University classrooms, labs and research centers where they can help prepare the next generation of entrepreneurs.