Research has always been at the heart of economic development, through emerging technologies, start-up companies, and even new industries. Research at Wayne State University, as a whole, is an important source of technology-based economic development. Encouraging faculty entrepreneurship and providing the resources necessary to stimulate economic growth through new venture creation is important to the university, the city and the state. To foster an entrepreneurial environment we have launched the WSU Entrepreneur's Network.

The WSU Entrepreneur's Network provides a forum to:

1. Discuss the dynamics of spin-out company formation based on WSU innovations;
2. Interact with role models and professional resources for faculty who want to explore starting a company without leaving the university; and
3. Identify opportunities to serve on technical advisory boards for new ventures.

The expectation is that this will be "the faculty's network". The faculty will decide upon topics of interest to be addressed and discussed at monthly meetings. Although the Venture Development Office facilitates the organization and scheduling of the meetings, it will be a forum where faculty can get answers to their questions in an informal, participative, rather than lecture, setting.

The Venture Development office will manage an e-mail list of interested faculty, and periodically articles addressing selected topics will be circulated to the list.