Nowhere will innovation drive the future more than in the environmental arena. To encourage Nicholas students’ and faculty’s entrepreneurial bent and give them the tools they’ll need to develop and bring to market creative new approaches to environmental challenges, the Nicholas School launched the Environmental Entrepreneurship & Innovation (EIE) Program in 2012. EIE’s start was made possible by leadership gifts from several generous donors.
Today the EIE Certificate is one of the most popular tracks within our professional environmental master’s (MEM) program. Led by Associate Dean and Professor of the Practice for Environmental Innovation & Entrepreneurship Jesko von Windheim, EIE draws students, not only from Nicholas, but from throughout Duke.
One of the cornerstones of the 12-credit Certificate program is the Environmental Mega Trends course, which draws a packed house every week to hear a power lineup of environmental thought-leaders share their perspectives on where environmental science, policy, thought and practice are headed in the coming 25 years. (You can view these presentations at http://tinyurl.com/pbohxza). In the Entrepreneurial Experience capstone course, teams of students go through all of the steps to form a business, providing an ideal springboard for those who want to start a company or be part of an early-stage company in the future. EIE also provides summer grants to student and faculty-student teams to explore promising early-stage opportunities to address diverse environmental issues.
Several of the Certificate program’s graduates have already gone on to launch startups of their own. One early success: TruFish, a startup launched by two MEM students who took our Environmental Mega Trends course, uses DNA testing to improve the accuracy of seafood species labeling and prevent seafood fraud within restaurant, retailers and distributors.
The Environmental Innovation & Entrepreneurship Program is a terrific example of what can be achieved when visionary donors come together to help support the next generation of students.
