The Innovation Factory in the University Center

The Innovation Factory is an immersive collaboration between existing programs and services on campus, composed administratively around entrepreneurship and design. IF executive partners include the Office of Research and Creative Scholarship, the Office of the Provost, and the President’s Office. The administrative and programming team includes leaders from Blackstone LaunchPad (BLP) and faculty from the School of Visual and Media Arts. Campus collaborators include the Broader Impacts Group (BIG), SpectrUM, UM researchers, The University Center, The Mansfield Center, Office of Admissions, and several UM academic programs.

The Innovation Factory is a creative space that provides connections, design and building spaces, and resources for students and members of the public to engage with innovative projects.  It makes possible deep research through vertically integrated project teams and IFtern student cohorts assigned grant-based projects. 

At IF, the intersection of design, prototyping, and entrepreneurship can be particularly innovative soil to cultivate on campus with deep liberal arts skillsets, and in a community with deeply creative and resourceful characteristics.

Entrepreneurship is fore-fronted through BLP programming, several student entrepreneurship teams, and Innovation Certificate capstone teams that bridge entrepreneurship, design, and prototyping. Blackstone Launchpad and the Epic Humans program center around co-curricular, experiential, campus-based programming designed to introduce entrepreneurship as a viable career path through individualized coaching, ideation, and venture creation support. Targeted outcomes could include private businesses launching to market, non-profit teams forming to tackle important local issues, or artists and design teams building better monetization strategies as part of Montana’s growing creative economy.

We believe IF can be a safe space to model and test new programming, curriculum, and delivery methods, as well as being a portal to campus for private and City partnerships.