Benedict College is on a mission to become one of the top producers of diverse entrepreneurs in the state of South Carolina. Four pillars undergird this mission: 1) Building Capacity, 2) Engaging Students, 3) Strategic Positioning, and 4) Transformation of Students and Community. BUILDING CAPACITY. The College is building capacity through the support of external funding and a keen focus on engaging the entire campus community through the Burroughs Enterprise, Startup, and Technology (B.E.S.T.) Innovation Lab. In the two years since its founding, the Lab has secured $450,000 in grant support, allowing for the expansion of its programming to include students, faculty, and the local community. Also, the Lab participates in several communities of practice that focus on innovation and building capacity. ENGAGING STUDENTS. Since its launch two years ago, the Lab has engaged over 300 students in its programming which includes student-run organizations, student-run campus-wide programs, and project adoptions intended to create interdisciplinary teamwork on campus. STRATEGIC POSITIONING. In 2023, the Deshpande Foundation recognized the Lab as the 2023 Rising Star Award for Excellence in Student Engagement, which solidified Benedict College as a leader and major contributor within the state’s innovation ecosystem. The College has leveraged its leadership position to sponsor statewide forums to advance the role of higher education in the state’s innovation ecosystem. TRANSFORMATION OF STUDENTS AND COMMUNITY. Through the Lab, students, faculty, and the local community have access to tools and resources (e.g., e-commerce platform, 8-week pre-accelerator program, ideation and coding workshops) for wealth creation, given that successful entrepreneurship is a well-documented pathway.
5th PLACE
Americas Most Impactful Initiative of the Year Award
Burroughs Enterprise, Startup, and Technology Innovation Lab
5th PLACE Americas Most Impactful Initiative of the Year Award
Benedict College - United States
"Producing Tomorrow’s Diverse Entrepreneurs and Innovators"
Engage on social media
https://www.linkedin.com/in/b-e-s-t-innovation-lab-72a976254/(Official Account for B.E.S.T. Innovation Lab)
https://www.linkedin.com/school/benedict-college(Official Account for Benedict College)
https://www.instagram.com/benedict_college/(Official Account for Benedict College)
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialBenedictPage/(Official Account for Benedict College)
(Official Account for Benedict College)
https://www.instagram.com/bc_bestil/(Official Account for B.E.S.T. Innovation Lab)
https://www.instagram.com/studentmade_benedict/(Official Account for B.E.S.T. Innovation Lab's E-commerce Site)
Summary
Key People
Dr. Roslyn Clark Artis
President and CEO
Benedict College
Dr. Janeen P. Witty
Vice President for Academic Affairs
Benedict College
Dr. Tracy Harrell Dunn
Dean
Burroughs School of Business & Entrepreneurship,
Benedict College
Atty Aaron Taylor
Director
Burroughs Enterprise, Startup, and Technology Innovation Lab,
Benedict College
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge:
• South Carolina Department of Commerce’s Office of Innovation. Their Relentless Challenge Grant provided the funds to launch the B.E.S.T. Innovation Lab.
• South Carolina Research Authority for the consistent support for the Lab’s programming and leadership
• Boyd Innovation Center and its executive director, Caroline Crowder
• Chris Heivly for the inspiration, guidance, and encouragement
• B.E.S.T. Innovation Lab Advisory Board
o Herbert Drayton
o Thaddeus Jones
o Lasenta Lewis
o Joe Queenan
o Alyssa Richardson
o Craig Scharton
• And many others
Images
The B.E.S.T. Innovation Lab receives the 2023 Rising Star Award for Excellence in Student Engagement from the Deshpande Foundation.
Students from the Lab win scholarship dollars in the Think Big Now pitch competition.
The Lab offers ideation workshop for local entrepreneurs, students, and faculty.
Benedict College students pack Columbia's Boyd Innovation Center for an event during the College's Entrepreneurship Week.
The Lab's student consulting group meets with clients.
The students from the Lab who manage the College's e-commerce platform.
IMPACT STORY
Impacting lifes
Through his affiliation with the B.E.S.T. Innovation Lab, a mass communication major was introduced to the convening place for the innovation ecosystem in Columbia, South Carolina – the Boyd Innovation Center (https://www.grow-co.org/). His attendance at events at the Boyd Innovation Center led to internship opportunity with the organization. As an intern, he was responsible for assisting the executive director with programming and attracting more college students to the Boyd Innovation Center.
The student intern was a member of the planning team for Entrepreneurship Week on Benedict College’s campus. He arranged for the screening of a short film about mental health that was written, directed, and starred in by Benedict College students (https://youtu.be/XcNEpBEfd4w?si=XO32LVyfS-zUxdR0).
Collaborative Artists (C.A.) Productions agreed to present their debut short film, "UN/HAPPY: The Film", a story about an HBCU student who suffers from multiple disorders. The film was intended for the HBCU Film Festival in Atlanta, Georgia but was instead screened for the first time in Columbia, South Carolina. (Director: Jaire Aton; Co-Director: Dakari Holder; Assistant Director: Sariyah Hawkins; 2nd Assistant Director: Charles Durr; Lead Actor: Nathan Harden II)
This single event attracted the most Benedict College students to the Boyd Innovation Center ever – over 100 students. In addition to students, members of the local innovation ecosystem attended. The film viewing was not just a conversation starter but an opportunity for the students to become familiar with the local innovation space as well as the startup founders who frequent the space.
LEARNINGS
Lessons learned
There is a famous line from a 1989 American movie, Field of Dreams – “If you build it, he will come.” Similar to the lead character in the movie played by Kevin Costner, the leadership team for the B.E.S.T. Innovation Lab thought if they built “it” (i.e., an innovation lab), “they” (i.e., the students and faculty) would come. That is not what happened.
Hence, a key learning has been to exercise patience and persistence. The programming early on had extremely low participation. The leadership team for the Lab was not discouraged. Recognizing that this was an unfamiliar initiative competing against well-known campus activities, they continued to promote the innovation lab and its programs. Now the Lab is better known through use of student and faculty ambassadors and student-run events, and the campus is starting to understand and reap the value of the lab programming.
FUTURE PLANS
What's coming?
There is currently no physical location for the B.E.S.T. Innovation Lab on campus. Consequently, it has been operating like a pop-up shop, which has not been problematic given that our students are Gen Z-ers, who are accustomed to pop-up and flash events. The Lab uses various spaces on campus for programming; however, our future plan is to identify and create a permanent home for the Lab.
Due to our success with grants and other fundraising endeavors, we have purchased equipment to support our entrepreneurs (e.g., 3-D printers, podcast equipment, iPads for coding/app building, etc.). A permanent home for the Lab would provide students with consistent access to the equipment and expand the number of students involved and benefiting from our programming.
