University of Miami's Launch Pad at Toppel won the Innovation Excellence Award: Student Engagement (College)

William S. Green, Susan Amat, and Christian Garcia, University of Miami

The Launch Pad has two basic goals: 1) to present entrepreneurship as a career option and 2) to enable students to start enterprises in South Florida and thereby contribute to the community.

The University of Miami treats entrepreneurship as a legitimate career path.  The Launch Pad’s programs provide the just-in-time knowledge entrepreneurs need to assess and develop their ideas and plans for a new enterprise.  The Launch Pad offers guidance, encouragement, and immediate access to a local commercial network.  It brings entrepreneurs into the local business community as early as possible.   The Launch Pad thus fulfills a key educational obligation: to teach learners not just how to find a job but also how to create a job.