Dedication ceremony included introduction of new innovation vice chancellor and announcement of Durham Technical Community College partnership.
With its official dedication last week, the Innovate Carolina Junction is poised to serve the community. Also home to Innovate Carolina – the university-wide initiative for innovation, entrepreneurship and economic development – the Junction offers private offices, coworking spaces, a startup accelerator and professional innovation services where people who have promising ideas, inventions or ventures can connect, exchange insights and work together to move their ideas forward to make a greater economic and human impact than they could do alone.
The Junction will “bring our entire network of innovators and entrepreneurs together to solve problems, providing important connections between campus and the community,” said Chancellor Kevin M. Guskiewicz. The Junction is a key part of Carolina’s larger economic development strategy to amplify the University’s impact by translating research, creating jobs and serving the public, he said.
Through a unique partnership with UNC-Chapel Hill and Innovate Carolina, Durham Technical Community College has opened an office inside the Junction where staff will focus on workforce development initiatives as well as offer corporate services and work-based education and training programs. The Durham Technical Community College team at the Junction will also work to create learning opportunities for students, including pre-apprenticeships, apprenticeships, internships, job shadowing and on-the-job training opportunities.
“Many people are aware that the College serves as a gateway to great universities and a pathway to prosperous careers through short-term workforce credentials and degree programs,” Durham Technical Community College President J.B. Buxton said. “Fewer people are aware of the small-business services available and the customized training we do to support new and expanding industry – this last year we worked on 13 major projects training 1,800 individuals in these companies.”
“We are so thrilled to have Durham Technical Community College join us at the Junction,” says Sheryl Waddell, Director of Economic Development and Innovation Hubs at Innovate Carolina. “It solidifies our commitment with Durham Tech to develop creative, new programming in the Junction that will help grow the innovation economy and expand workforce development in our state.”
Durham Technical Community College and UNC have also partnered to develop a talent pipeline for Durham Tech students to work as interns in UNC clinical research labs and then fill critical clinical research jobs at UNC Lineberger Cancer Center, the medical school, UNC Health, and units beyond Chapel Hill after graduating.
The Junction is also home to Innovate Carolina’s Signature Series: events and programs that tackle challenges that matter to North Carolina and the UNC-Chapel Hill community by facilitating collaboration and connections with industry experts, academic researchers and the extended business community.
“We celebrate the rich history of innovation at this University that has laid the foundation for the work we do today,” said Dedric Carter, new Vice Chancellor for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Economic Development and Chief Innovation Officer. “We also anticipate the many new opportunities for impact that will arise as people converge and begin to work in new ways at the Junction. We will see new inventions moved to market. New companies launched. New jobs created. New partnerships formed. New possibilities for public good uncovered. All the new adds up to bigger impact that starts now–in this space with all of you.”
| UNC-CH