Entrepreneurship

At The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign,
entrepreneurship expands beyond the single goal of starting a business — it's about building
up entrepreneurial-minded leaders who are in demand by companies of all sizes.

Grainger Engineering Startups

Entrepreneurship has long been embedded in Grainger Engineering's culture, with many prominent startups founded or co-founded by Grainger engineers — including YouTube, Tesla, Yelp, c3.ai, AMD, PayPal and even the NFL, to name a few.

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From Idea to Impact

Our Technology Entrepreneur Center (TEC) is where entrepreneurial minds find support to build, innovate and shape the future. The experiences and opportunities you'll gain through TEC will help you develop an entrepreneurial mindset and create innovative startups with global impact.

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Develop an Entrepreneurial Mindset

We’re here to teach you how to think like an entrepreneur to become a successful innovator and leader! TEC offers over 25 entrepreneurial courses, five certificates, and a B.S. dual degree in Innovation, Leadership and Engineering Entrepreneurship (ILEE).

Accelerate Your Idea

TEC’s campuswide Cozad New Venture Challenge will help mentor and guide you through the phases of venture creation, teaching you how to validate your startup ideas and learn critical entrepreneurial skills to build your own business.

“The Cozad New Venture Challenge has always represented the pinnacle of everything the entrepreneurship ecosystem at Illinois offers and stands for. We never would have imagined being able to win!”
– Cara Bognar, Founder of Top Tier Lessons, Cozad Grand Prize Winner 2023

Pitch Your Innovations to Chicago's Tech Leaders

The Grainger Engineering Tech Startup Challenge brings together engineering-powered startups from leading universities to compete for funding and prizes from a pool of over $200,000. Hosted by Grainger Engineering, the challenge showcases tech startups as they pitch live to investors, founders and leaders in Chicago’s thriving tech scene.

Startup Success Story

Wondering how you can create your own startup? Hear how one student's preparation, dedication and use of campus resources helped her pitch her idea to tech giant and Grainger Engineering alumnus Thomas M. Siebel!

Name: Emily Zhou
Company: Sound of Molecules
Degrees: '24 B.S., '25 M.S., Computer Science

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