{"670937":{"#nid":"670937","#data":{"type":"news","title":"EI\u00b2 Kicks Off Programming in Colombia with CREATE-X","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ECREATE-X, in partnership with the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/innovate.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EEnterprise Innovation Institute\u003C\/a\u003E\u2019s (EI\u00b2) \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gtmedellin.org\/\u0022\u003EMedell\u00edn Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center\u003C\/a\u003E (GTMC), has rolled out its first international program in Medell\u00edn, Colombia, taking its mission to instill entrepreneurial confidence abroad. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EEI\u00b2 and CREATE-X staff travelled to Medell\u00edn in August to lay down foundations, identify faculty and program managers who could implement the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECREATE-X\u003C\/a\u003E program, and equip facilitators to carry the program forward. The week-long training took place at Universidad EIA. For the training, 80 students, faculty, and other interested facilitators gathered to learn. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cWe had great participation from the local ecosystem, local corporations, local universities, and faculty and students who are excited about the opportunity that CREATE-X could bring to not only their city, but their country,\u201d said Nakia Melecio, VentureLab principal, senior research faculty member at EI\u00b2.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EIn March, the Georgia Institute of Technology, in partnership with twelve companies, four universities, and two economic development agencies, opened the first comprehensive innovation hub in South America. The center is led by EI\u00b2, which has the goal of bringing private industry, higher education, and economic development organizations together to help grow economies. With the Medell\u00edn Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center, Colombia joins Georgia Tech\u2019s other international research activities including in Panama, Singapore, and China.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cOur goal with the Center is to be a nexus of collaboration and bring together the public and private sectors to support sustainable economic growth,\u201d said Juli Golemi, director of EI2 Global, which oversees the Medell\u00edn Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center operations. \u201cBringing CREATE-X to Medell\u00edn will be critical to creating an ecosystem in which startups can flourish and thrive.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EDaniel Constable, program manager for CREATE-X wasn\u2019t shocked by Medell\u00edn being chosen for the center.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cI lived in Medell\u00edn for six months several years ago, so I was already kind of familiar with the city. So, when I heard we were bringing our program there, I was excited to be involved in it. Even seven years ago, it was already becoming a place for digital nomads,\u201d Constable said.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe main goal for the next five years is to create sustainable structures and programming, said Santiago Henao Restrepo, director of operations for the Medell\u00edn Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cTo boost the startup ecosystem, we have to do it from different fronts,\u201d Henao said. \u201cWorking with CREATE-X and other Georgia Tech programs will help us achieve that goal by giving our students the tools to create local capabilities through these universities in Colombia to boost the ecosystem.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EBrandy Stanfield-Nagel, program manager\u0026nbsp;for EI\u00b2, said the program in Medell\u00edn won\u2019t be a copy and paste of the program on Georgia Tech\u2019s Atlanta campus. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cWe have to understand the local community, how things are taught, what are the values of the community and then adapt our methodology and pedagogy to the local community. One of the aspects that\u0027s unique about Medellin is that CREATE-X is not being taught on just one campus. It\u0027s pulling from several campuses.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EAfter training the future facilitators, CREATE-X opened applications for the first group to participate in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\/learn\/startup-lab\u0022\u003EStartup Lab\u003C\/a\u003E, which aims to teach participants entrepreneurial essentials. It is part of the beginning segment of CREATE-X programming, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\/learn\u0022\u003ELearn\u003C\/a\u003E. The course in Medell\u00edn would be taught in English. Students wouldn\u2019t be able to earn credits for the course, but they wouldn\u2019t have to pay for it. Any student of any Medell\u00edn university could participate. Over 400 students applied to take the 9-week course. Out of that, 100 students were accepted. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EMelecio stressed the importance of student entrepreneurship, which aligns with Georgia Tech\u2019s principle surrounding championing innovation.\u0026nbsp; \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cI think when you look at student entrepreneurship activity across the campus and not just across our campus, but across the country, I think everyone is seeing that the future has to be created, not discovered,\u201d Melecio said. \u201cI think that students play an extreme catalyst in creating the future versus waiting for it to be discovered.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EViviana Montenegro, program manager for EI\u00b2 and EI\u00b2 Global, spoke of the wide-ranging impacts of the student\u2019s entrepreneurship and their eagerness to do the work.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cThe program is feeding the pipeline. It has an impact to many stakeholders,\u201d said Montenegro. \u003Cspan\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003EIt\u2019s been rewarding for me to meet students that are so passionate and have so much potential.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cThese startups can bring solutions to the community, but also can hire, or can have partnership with the corporate world and bring innovation to the universities,\u201d Henao said. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EIn the future, CREATE-X plans to continue to expand outside of Georgia Tech.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cWe are a thought leader in entrepreneurial education now, and we want to help everyone be able to provide entrepreneurial education to their respective campuses and achieve the type of success we\u0027ve seen with CREATE-X,\u201d Saxena said. \u201cWhat Georgia Tech can help other schools understand is how to create in entrepreneurial culture on campus. I think the playbook on how to instill entrepreneurial confidence in students hasn\u0027t been written yet and is one that I think Georgia Tech has shown that it can do better than others.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EEventually, Medell\u00edn students could have their own \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\/demoday\u0022\u003EDemo Day\u003C\/a\u003E to showcase their products or visit CREATE-X\u2019s Demo Day on Georgia Tech\u2019s campus. Looking forward, the Medell\u00edn program aims to launch 100 startups and to expand programming to contain the other segments of CREATE-X, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\/make\u0022\u003EMake\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\/launch\u0022\u003ELaunch\u003C\/a\u003E, where students are developing prototypes and then bringing viable products to market. Outside of CREATE-X, the GTMC will also have professional courses, bootcamps, and an invention studio, among other things. And the students themselves are expanding beyond their borders. Even now, students are making connections with contacts in Atlanta through the GTMC.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EFor those interested in supporting the work being done in Medell\u00edn through volunteering, visit the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gtmedellin.org\/\u0022\u003EGTMC\u003C\/a\u003E website. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EEI\u00b2 and CREATE-X staff travelled to Medell\u00edn in August to lay down foundations, identify faculty and program managers who could implement the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECREATE-X\u003C\/a\u003E program, and equip facilitators to carry the program forward. After training the future facilitators, CREATE-X opened applications for the first group to participate in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\/learn\/startup-lab\u0022\u003EStartup Lab\u003C\/a\u003E, which aims to teach participants entrepreneurial essentials.\u0026nbsp;One-hundred students were chosen to take the 9-week course. The Medell\u00edn program aims to launch 100 startups and to expand programming to contain the other segments of CREATE-X, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\/make\u0022\u003EMake\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\/launch\u0022\u003ELaunch\u003C\/a\u003E, where students are developing prototypes and then bringing viable products to market.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"CREATE-X, in partnership with the Enterprise Innovation Institute\u2019s (EI\u00b2) Medell\u00edn Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (GTMC), has rolled out its first international program in Medell\u00edn, Colombia."}],"uid":"36436","created_gmt":"2023-11-08 13:18:24","changed_gmt":"2023-11-08 17:14:29","author":"bdurham31","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-11-08T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2023-11-08T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"583966","name":"CREATE-X"},{"id":"655285","name":"GT Commercialization"}],"categories":[{"id":"139","name":"Business"},{"id":"131","name":"Economic Development and Policy"},{"id":"42911","name":"Education"}],"keywords":[{"id":"166973","name":"startup"},{"id":"3472","name":"entrepreneurship"},{"id":"9040","name":"EI2"},{"id":"137161","name":"CREATE-X"},{"id":"289","name":"Global"},{"id":"815","name":"economic development"},{"id":"1033","name":"Economic Impact"},{"id":"4176","name":"diplomacy"},{"id":"1802","name":"international"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBreanna Durham\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMarketing Strategist\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["breanna.durham@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}