The Skandalaris Center supports entrepreneurial research through grants to Washington University faculty, collaboration with research centers and participation in external research conducted by academic colleagues.
Center on Law, Innovation & Economic Growth
The Skandalaris Center received a Kauffman Campuses grant in 2003 that included seed funding to establish the Center for Research in Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CRIE) in the School of Law, renamed the Center on Law, Innovation & Economic Growth (CLIEG) on March 26, 2009.
CLIEG is a faculty-based research program within Washington University in St. Louis. Its scholarly pursuits are designed to engage faculty and students across the campus and its work will serve not only the St. Louis economic community but other academic, governmental and private sector entities nationally that are interested in advancing entrepreneurship.
The mission of CLIEG is to generate quality research on targeted topics in the area of innovation and entrepreneurship.
Beginning in 2004, CRIE awarded more than $500,000 in Kauffman research grants to faculty in the School of Engineering, Olin Business School, Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts, School of Medicine, School of Law and George Warren Brown School of Social Work. In addition, CRIE hosted the following conferences:
- November 4-5, 2005 - Conference on Commercializing Innovation
- April 4-5, 2008 - Open-Source and Proprietary Models of Innovation: Beyond Ideology
- April 2-3, 2009 - The Economics and Law of Innovation
For more information or to download conference materials, please visit: CLIEG.
Kauffman Grants
Kauffman research funds are now awarded through the Skandalaris Center by a subcommittee of its Steering Committee. Members of the research funds subcommittee include:
- Barton Hamilton, Olin Business School
- Ken Harrington, Skandalaris Center
- Charles McManis, School of Law
- Evan Kharasch, Vice Chancellor for Research
Proposals for Entrepreneurship Research are currently being solicited by the subcommittee and are due by March 1, 2011. Please see the following instructions for details: 2011 Entrepreneurship Research Proposal Instructions.
Skandalaris Grants
In addition to remaining Kauffman grant funds, the Skandalaris Center also administers research funds donated by Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Skandalaris. In November 2009, the Skandalaris Center awarded grants totaling $60,000 to the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts, which were presented during the School’s hosting of the "Economies: Art + Architecture" conference. The conference was the first joint conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) and the National Council of Art Administrators (NCAA). The selection committee received 41 nominations representing a wide range of national and international creative and entrepreneurial activity. The three awardees demonstrated leadership and entrepreneurship in the fields of Art + Design + Architecture on a local, national or international level by promoting or establishing innovative understandings of "economy," particularly through community-based and/or sustainable practices.
The Skandalaris Award for Excellence in Art Architecture recognized an “artist, architect, or designer whose individual or collaborative works, projects or research have had profound and lasting impacts on society, culture or the environment.” The award winner was Rick Lowe, founder of Project Row Houses in Houston, a large-scale development founded on the principle that art can be the basis for revitalizing depressed inner-city neighborhoods.
Collaborations with research centers and universities
Since 2007, the Center has been working with William Baumol of New York University on a research project to understand entrepreneurial innovation and the collegiate conditions, educational practices and student experiences that spur its development. Research included a survey of graduates from the class of 2000, guided by research suggesting that the age of first entrepreneurial activity in the U.S. has decreased from approximately 40 to 30, suggesting that the class of 2000 may already have a meaningful number of entrepreneurs.
William Lucas of MIT is conducting research to assess the learning outcomes of entrepreneurship education on the Kauffman Campuses. The research includes three surveys: a senior survey in April 2008, an entering freshman survey in Fall 2008, and a senior survey in Spring 2012. Student reports of their campus experiences allow for an assessment of institutional support for entrepreneurship. The surveys will also measure learning outcomes, including entrepreneurial self-confidence and intent. A comparison of the student reports of institutional support and campus culture in the two senior surveys will provide insight into the nature of institutional change from 2008 to 2012. The comparison of the self-confidence and entrepreneurial intention of the entering Class of 2012 freshmen with those same attitudes shortly before they graduate in 2012 will provide a measure of change.
Since March 2007, the Skandalaris Center has been working with the Missouri Botanical Garden (MOBOT) on its conservation efforts in Madagascar. For 30 years, MOBOT has worked on environmental conservation and preservation in Madagascar. Over fifty MOBOT employees work at the local level to create community specific, grass roots CCP (Community Conservation Program) initiatives, which are threatened when the resources of rare forests are needed for people’s survival. MOBOT realized the need for economic development plans that would reinforce CCP’s sustainability, and has been working with Washington University students and faculty to integrate conservation goals with self-directed, economic growth in the country’s rural subsistence communities. Read more about the partnership on the Missouri Botanical Garden's website.