For nearly 30 years, VentureWell has worked to support, train, and foster networks to ensure the next generation of science and technology innovators realize—and maximize—their potential in bringing their ideas to impact. From our experience developing forward-thinking programming to fostering deep collaboration among the best minds from research labs, classrooms, and beyond, we’re well-positioned to provide valuable insights and best practices to advance innovation and entrepreneurship education. We want to share key learnings from our work with the greater innovation and entrepreneurship community to ensure all early-stage innovators have the opportunities to bring their inventions to the world via new ventures, creating jobs and impact at the same time.
New! Strategies To Accelerate and Expand Access to the U.S. Innovation Economy
In 2024, The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) invited VentureWell to update our 2020 Day One Memo, which laid out recommendations for how the federal government could close critical gaps from lab to market. In this substantially revised paper, we look back over four years of successful innovation and describe strategies to further accelerate and expand the United States innovation economy. We recommend actions based on three core principles: inclusion, relevance, and sustainability.
New! A Decade of Aspire: Bridging the Funding Gap
Ten years ago, VentureWell launched Aspire as the most advanced phase in the VentureWell Accelerator suite. The program prepares startup founders to engage with investors and secure the seed funding needed to bring their climatetech and medtech innovations to market. Of the 177 Aspire alumni startups from 2015 to 2023, 81% are still active, 53% are women-led, and 33% are BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color)-led. This report reflects on our learnings from the past decade.
New! Reimagining STEM I&E by Centering Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
This project, funded by the National Science Foundation (Award 2317317) and led by VentureWell, seeks to elevate the perspectives and lived experiences of those historically excluded from STEM innovation and entrepreneurship. Through a collaborative, iterative design process, 35 experts from diverse backgrounds co-created a vision for a fully inclusive I&E ecosystem. The resulting publication offers crucial guidance for STEM leaders, outlining actionable steps to engage Black, Latinx, Indigenous, women, and low-income individuals, address systemic barriers, and advance meaningful DEI strategies.
Advancing Equity: Dynamic Strategies for Authentic Engagement in Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Our new report, Advancing Equity: Dynamic Strategies for Authentic Engagement in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, offers six interrelated approaches to help higher ed entrepreneurship centers and programs broaden participation among early-stage innovators and entrepreneurs.
Venture Development Framework
The VentureWell Venture Development Framework is a tool to help evaluate the progression of early-stage science- and technology-based ventures. The framework, presented in a technical brief entitled, Developing and Evaluating Programs for Early-Stage Entrepreneurs: Describing Science- and Technology-Based Venture Development, can help inform the development, implementation, and evaluation of programs supporting entrepreneurs.
Celebrating 25 Years of Idea to Impact
VentureWell was launched in 1995 to test an audacious proposition: If creative students are given the opportunity to pursue invention and taught how to turn their ideas into scalable businesses, we can solve the world’s most pressing problems. Since then, we’ve directly supported or trained thousands of science and technology innovators at hundreds of universities, and nurtured thousands of their ventures. We’ve helped bring groundbreaking technological advancements to millions of people in more than 90 countries, in biomedicine and healthcare, sustainable energy and materials, and other sectors critical to people and the planet through scalable ventures that have attracted over a billion dollars in investment.
Charting a Path Forward: Reflections on Initial Steps Toward Advancing Equity in Innovation & Entrepreneurship
This publication is a comprehensive reflection on our ongoing journey identifying, articulating, addressing, and assessing the systemic gaps in equity and inclusion across our work. It offers key lessons and recommendations gleaned from our past two years of tests, trials, failures, and successes in striving to advance equity and inclusion within our organization and in the broader innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) ecosystem. Read the publication for strategies on how to launch or strengthen equity efforts in your school or organization.
From Idea to Impact: DayOne Response
Our new case study, From Idea to Impact: DayOne Response, highlights the nuanced experience of an early-stage innovator, and takes a retrospective look at the milestones that were accomplished along the way.
Embracing Catalytic Events for Change
Embracing Catalytic Events for Change spotlights three personal narratives from entrepreneurial educators centered on a pivotal moment that propelled each author into deeper, more authentic engagement around diversity, equity, and inclusion with their colleagues, their students, and themselves. It’s the second of three publications in our series, Advancing Equity: Navigating New Terrain. The publications demonstrate ways to apply strategies that can support innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) faculty and leaders of entrepreneurship centers to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices in their programs.
Mapping Inclusive Pathways to Entrepreneurship
Mapping Inclusive Pathways to Entrepreneurship provides entrepreneurial ecosystem builders with key strategies to promote and support ever-broadening versions of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. This resource has strategies to establish a welcoming environment in which to introduce students from all backgrounds to new concepts, pathways, and ways of thinking, in order to support them in designing their own entrepreneurial journeys. It’s the third and final installment of our Advancing Equity: Navigating New Terrain series.
Transforming Programs Through an Equity Lens
Transforming Programs Through an Equity Lens, is a presentation of two assessment tools designed to facilitate deep and thoughtful conversations among staff about how to integrate ongoing DEI practices and learnings into programmatic work. It’s the first of three publications in our series, Advancing Equity: Navigating New Terrain. The publications demonstrate ways to apply strategies that can support innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) faculty and leaders of entrepreneurship centers to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices in their programs.
Innovator Insights Report
Our breadth of experience in training and supporting early-stage innovators as well as program data enables us to produce Innovator Insights: Illuminating the Path for Tomorrow’s Inventors. The report highlights valuable findings and best practices around embarking on a journey in innovation and entrepreneurship.
The Multidimensional Impact of Entrepreneurial Support Programs: Key Takeaways for Program Development and Evaluation
Our new report highlights the interrelated impact of entrepreneurship training on individuals, ventures, and ecosystems.
Faculty Grants Program Retrospective Assessment
The report highlights the impact grant funding had on faculty, students, higher education institutions, and the broader innovation and entrepreneurship field.
Strengthening University-Based Systems to Support the Development of Intellectual Property (IP) Strategies
Our new report, Strengthening University-Based Systems to Support the Development of Intellectual Property (IP) Strategies: Insights from Faculty, Administrators, and Students, outlines elements of an ideal system that supports science- and technology-based students and faculty in developing, understanding, and protecting IP.