NEC aims to nurture entrepreneurial learning and venture creation among the NUS community, and to advance knowledge in the policy and practice of technology venturing in Singapore and beyond. The centre was originally established in 1988 as a university-level centre called the Centre for Management of Innovation and Technopreneurship (CMIT). In 2001, it became a division of NUS Enterprise, and was renamed as the NUS Entrepreneurship Centre (NEC).
Activities: NEC’s activities are organized into 4 key areas: Experiential Education, Entrepreneurship Development, NUS Enterprise Incubator and Entrepreneurship & Innovation Research.
Experiential Education: NEC creates and develops experiential learning-based entrepreneurship education programmes for the NUS community. Since 1999, the Centre has successfully developed a Technopreneurship Minor Programme open to all NUS undergraduates, before transferring it to the NUS Business School in 2006. Other educational initiatives launched by NEC include the annual intensive Entrepreneurship Summer Schools for foreign students, the New Venture Creation workshops for working technical professionals, and a series of practical half-day workshops for CEOs of startups from NUS and Singapore. In 2008, NEC initiated a new innovative Local Enterprise Achiever Development (iLEAD) programme to provide internship-based entrepreneurial learning opportunities for NUS students in local knowledge-intensive enterprises. In collaboration with the Stanford Technology Venturing Programme (STVP), NEC has also been producing teaching cases on high-tech startups.
Entrepreneurship Development: NEC fosters the development of interest in entrepreneurship in NUS and Singapore through a series of entrepreneurship development programmes that exposes the NUS community to real-world entrepreneurial practices and engages them in experiential learning. These include the annual Start-Up@Singapore national business plan competition since 1999, monthly Techno-Venture Forums, and major events such as the Global Wireless Venturing Forum (2004-06), the NUS-Global Entrepreneurship Summit (2006), and Singapore country host for the Global Entrepreneurship Week (2008). NEC also actively nurtures student initiatives and organisations that promote entrepreneurship among youths, including the NUS Entrepreneurship Society, E27 and Energy Carta.
NUS Enterprise Incubator: NEC provides a wide range of services to nurture startups by NUS researchers, students and alumni. NEC runs the NUS Enterprise Incubator - a place where physical facilities and the ‘wet-lab’ environment combine to provide the necessary support and infrastructure for the new companies incubated there. NEC also administers an active mentoring programme for startup founders and offers various support services such as organising training workshops, match-making with venture capitalists and angel investors, as well as providing business networking contacts and internship support. In addition, NEC manages a number of seed funding programmes to jumpstart promising technology startups from NUS. These include the NUS Startup Fund (NSF), which leverages on the matching fund from 1SPRING Singapore’s 2SEEDS programme to provide seed funding up to S$600K; the YES! Startups, which leverages on SPRING Singapore’s ETDF scheme for student ventures, and the Micro Funding Scheme (MFS), which leverages on the matching convertible grant from MDA to provide seed funding for interactive digital media (IDM) projects or ventures.
Entrepreneurship & Innovation Research: NEC conducts both scholarly as well as applied research on high-tech innovation and entrepreneurship to advance knowledge in technology venturing policy and practice. NEC regularly participates in international collaborative research projects with leading foreign universities such as the Stanford Project on Regions of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SPRIE) and the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Project, and produces high-impact applied research such as the annual Asia-Pacific IP ScoreCard and the annual GEM report on Singapore’s entrepreneurial development. NEC’s research findings are disseminated through scholarly journals like the Journal of Business Venturing, commissioned policy reports for government agencies, and public seminars and conferences.
1 SPRING: Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board
2 SEEDS: Startup Enterprise Development Scheme
3 ETDF: Entrepreneurship Talent Development Fund
4 Media Development Authority
Our Vision
A dynamic NUS community with a pervasive entrepreneurial and innovative culture and global reputation for entrepreneurial educational leadership
Our Mission
The mission of the NUS Entrepreneurship Centre (NEC) is to promote and support entrepreneurial learning among the NUS community, nurture start-ups by NUS professors, students and alumni, and conduct research to advance knowledge of the policy and practice of technology venturing in Singapore and beyond.
Organisation Structure
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History of the NUS Entrepreneurship Centre
•1991 -- Establishment of Centre for Management of Technology (CMT) at the Faculty of Business Administration
•Nov 1998 -- Upgrading of CMT into a new University-level, Centre for Management of Innovation and Technopreneurship (CMIT), under the NUS Office of Research
•Oct 2001 -- Re-organization and re-naming of CMIT as Centre for Entrepreneurship (CET) as a new division under NUS Enterprise, with expansion towards Education, Research and Outreach activities
•Dec 2002 – To further emphasize our pivotal role in promoting Entrepreneurship Education, Research and Outreach within the NUS community, our centre has been renamed to NUS Entrepreneurship Centre and also a division under NUS Enterprise
•Jul 2006 – The teaching responsibility for the Technoprebeurship Minor Program was transferred to NUS Business School, while NUS Venture Support unit came under the centre
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