The Student Innovation Center's vision is to inspire meaningful creativity, encourage student exploration of new frontiers, and stimulate economic development. The Student Innovation Center is located in three rooms on the ground floor of the SEED Center and is comprised of the Innovation Classroom, Innovation Lab, and Student Business Incubation Studio (BIS). Through coaching, mentoring, iPads ot
her Apple technology, gaming and app development, idea creation tools, and a relaxed environment, students are able to:
-collaborate with students from other disciplines
-create and refine ideas
-pioneer invention
-prove and communicate a concept
-conduct patent searching, sales forecasting, data mining
-network with peers and local companies
-receive faculty and peer mentoring
-create working prototypes
The Innovation classroom is the main facility where faculty coach students through the Innovation courses. The room is desgined to facilitate collaborative teaching, learning, sharing, and practice using flexible modular furniture, IP-based infrastructure, Apple technology, a multiple screen environment, and switched AV control system. The Innovation coursework coaches students through the creation, communication, and commercialization of meaningfully unique ideas. The Innovation Laboratory (iLab) is available to students enrolled in the Innovation courses as well as student business incubation studio tenants as a place that harnesses technology to enhance creativity and bring ideas into reality. The iLab is a custom-built ecosystem with non-linear writable wall space, interactive technology, communication devices, a prototyping center, and idea creation and commercialization tools designed to pioneer student invention through interdisciplinary collaboration. The Student Business Incubation Studio's (BIS) mission is to support and facilitate the development of sustainable student businesses. There are many opportunities for student businesses that emerge from the university’s six academic colleges. However, there has not been an established infrastructure to encourage or support this type of endeavor at McNeese. Through new programs and activities, McNeese is leading an effort to create an environment that supports innovation and entrepreneurship. The incubation studio provides a systematic approach to creativity and gives students the tools they need to create and refine an idea then translate it into an opportunity. The Studio has assigned space for students to operate businesses once certain admission criteria have been met. Using compact, freestanding and side-reversible furniture that connects in a variety of configurations the student incubator easily accommodates changing student requirements. A small meeting room with boardroom style furniture allows students to interface with prospective customers.
