The Culverhouse College of Business’ Alabama Entrepreneurship Institute, or AEI, provides a concentrated resource for innovation and entrepreneurship. Part of the scope of AEI’s work is organizing events to identify and support nascent entrepreneurs on The University of Alabama campus and through the region. This work takes many forms, but is most visible in the various pitch competitions that AEI hosts.
In this editorial for the AlabamaINNO website, AEI executive director Dr. Theresa Welbourne discusses the importance of competitions to cultivate entrepreneurs and how competitions are an entry point into a pipeline:
We have been able to help our student, community, faculty and alumni startups through the process of becoming sustainable and growth-focused by involving numerous people along the way. The power of competition is the spark that started the journey for our team, and we continue to think competition helps ignite learning and growth of entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Read more in the editorial here.