On this episode of Campfire – The Impact and Innovation Podcast, host Khuram Zaman of Fifth Tribe is joined by the first Chief Innovation Officer of Maryland University, Julie Lenzer. Listen as he invites her to share her expertise and experience with innovation and entrepreneurship. She takes the time to share her views on the importance of cultivating innovation and entrepreneurship in students along with sharing some of the programs she has helped set in place to do just that.

At the beginning of the episode, Khuram invites Julie to share about her job as Chief Innovation Officer. She explains the importance of this role in revolutionizing the way students are introduced to innovation and entrepreneurship. This is done by bringing entrepreneurship programs to students and offering them internships to receive additional experience. She goes on to share how the University of Maryland has placed a big emphasis on cultivating these two aspects through research and economic development. Along with this, Julie shares her job in connecting students and their ideas with great resources. Some resources she mentions include Fearless Ideas Campaign, MAVRIC, and TechPort.

Next, Khuram and Julie talk about some of the other organizations and programs she has been able to be a part of. These include the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Maryland Center for Entrepreneurship, and Startup America Partnership. Julie shares about her involvement in each of these and how they all aim to support innovators and entrepreneurs by providing grants, realizing their potential, helping market their ideas, providing resources, and connecting community-based resources with a community of entrepreneurs. She believes that America is moving towards a more supportive view of innovation and entrepreneurship, however, that a better focus on inclusion is needed. Everyone should be given the same opportunities to be innovative and create new ideas.

The conversation moves on to Khuram asking Julie to give advice to someone interested in entrepreneurship. She begins by encouraging those interested in this field to start talking about their ideas. It is important to learn how to fail fast, get back up, and find new ideas. Always be looking for solutions to problems around you and how to make things better. She takes some time to answer questions about the future of entrepreneurship programs and cultural change in this field. The podcast concludes with Julie expressing her hope for the future of universities in rethinking innovation and using it in ways to confront the pandemic.

Links:

To learn more about entrepreneurship and to find resources, visit innovate.udm.edu.

Follow Julie Lenzer on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Visit Julie’s Blog here.

Learn more about Khuram Zaman and connect on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Access Campfire podcast videos on YouTube.

Connect with Fifth Tribe on Facebook for more on the business and Campfire podcast!

Timestamps:

0:04- The host Introduces the podcast and guest Julie Lenzer

0:37- Host welcomes Julie and asks her to share about her role as Chief Innovation Officer

2:37- Julie shares about the importance of innovation in universities

6:20- Different programs that encourage and fund student patents

9:00- Julie shares about MAVRIC and TechPort

11:11- Julie shares about her role at the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship

15:18- Julie talks about the programs offered at the Maryland Center for Entrepreneurship

19:05- The Host asks Julie to share about the Startup project and bus tour

21:03- The host asks Julie how she would grade America’s innovation and entrepreneurship

23:00- Julie gives advice to students interested in innovation and entrepreneurship

25:41- Julie answers questions from students on the future of innovation and cultural changes

28:45- Julie shares some of the challenges she has faced and how she has overcome them

32:30- Julie’s role as Chief Innovation Officer in helping the community

34:50- How to learn more about these programs

33:22- Advice for universities during these hard times