Mission: Educate, inspire and empower women to pursue leadership roles in technology-based companies worldwide
Vision: A world in which gender issues are neutralized
Empowering Women in Technology Startups (EWITS®) provides educated women with hands-on entrepreneurial training and skills that will empower them for the rest of their lives. Many think of entrepreneurs as business people, but entrepreneurs come from all walks of life. Launched in 2012 by the Innovation Hub at the University of Florida, the University of Florida Office of Technology Licensing and with support from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, the program offers opportunities to women of diverse professional backgrounds, from science and engineering to business functions such as marketing and finance. EWITS® leverages women’s unique skills and perspectives for new business creation and transforms them from employees to employers. In the past five years, more than 250 women have benefited from this life-changing program.
Starting in Fall 2018, EWITS® will be run by the Collaboratory for Women Innovators, which a part of the Warrington College of Business, Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The program still partners closely with UF Innovate (formerly Innovatin Hub and OTL) and takes place at the Hub incubator, where the Collaboratory is located. This partnership provides great synergy between the UF campus and the Gainesville startup community. The Collaboratory launch coincided with the Innovation Hub’s Phase II expansion earlier this year. The expansion now brings the Hub incubator space to 100,000 sq ft, and continues to build on the incubator’s record of success of growing technology-based startups over the past six years.
You will gain
- A unique opportunity to experience the technology commercialization process – a critical element of current & future economic growth
- Access to the resources, intelligence and tools required to form a technology startup, should you wish to do so in the future
- New skill sets and knowledge for resume-building and broadened career development options
- The ability to integrate the science and technology of an innovation with the business elements needed to transform it into a product
EWITS® IS
- A hands-on “laboratory” experience in researching and understanding the commercial opportunity of an innovation
- A chance to “create” the company elements needed to move an innovation from the laboratory to the marketplace in a simulated environment
- A program that includes mentoring by experienced women entrepreneurs
- A chance to network with mentors, speakers, fellow participants and investors
- An opportunity to learn about barriers to entry for women and strategies for overcoming them
- A program where you can acquire new skill sets and knowledge for resume-building and broadened career development options
- Fun!
EWITS® IS NOT
- A traditional classroom entrepreneurship course
- A job placement program that results in an interview or employment
- A guarantee of any company being formed
- A guarantee of any technology being licensed
- A counseling group or source of personal counseling assistance
CONTACT US
For more information about the EWITS® program, please email us.