Global Entrepreneurship Week Penn State celebrates the Community of Entrepreneurship. Penn State and the communities surrounding the campuses that are emerging as a vibrant collective of independent thinkers who work together to get important things done. This is the vision of community enabling a better world through collective effort.
At University Park each day has a theme: Go Freelance!, Social Entrepreneurship, Intrapreneurship Innovation, Entrepreneurial Women, Start-Up Shake-Up. Keynotes are from noon-1:00 (except Wednesday) and master classes follow the keynotes. Perspective Panels, 3-5 experienced entrepreneurs talk about their successes and failures, are held from 3:00-4:00. From 4:30 to 6:30 every day you will find workshops. New Leaf Initiative sponsors networking opportunities every day from 6:30-8:00 followed by Flavor Flights, sponsored by the CBICC, every evening from 8:00-9:30.
This will feature introductory videos led by industry leaders to provide entrepreneurs, start-ups, and existing companies with small business fundamentals. The video series will be housed on the Wilkes-Barre Connect website.
Wilkes-Barre Connect is an initiative created to ensure that all entrepreneurs, start-ups, and existing businesses have access to the providers, services, and facilities they need to grow their business in northeastern Pennsylvania. Connect is designed to handle the needs of all businesses and industry sectors and requires no membership or fee – it is absolutely FREE to join.
The providers include the founding member organizations of Wilkes-Barre Connect: Wilkes University Small Business Development Center (SBDC); Family Business Alliance; Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania; Allan P. Kirby Center for Free Enterprise & Entrepreneurship; Diamond City Partnership (DCP); Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development; and Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber (administer of the program).
The services delivered by the Wilkes-Barre Connect Providers include mentoring; trainings; networking; technical assistance, including business plan development, market research and feasibility, financial modeling, and marketing; and access to capital.
The facilities are the various types of spaces made available for businesses to locate, no matter where they are in the business life cycle, including incubators, office space, retail storefronts, and business parks. The Wilkes-Barre Connect initiative is housed within one of our downtown Wilkes-Barre facilities – the Wilkes-Barre THINK Center. The Wilkes-Barre THINK Center is a 6,000-square-foot media and technology center that features three specific components: Conference/Training Rooms, including the Penn State Conference Room; Co-Working Space; and a 45-seat Lecture and Media Hall. The Wilkes-Barre THINK Center will also serve as the home of various events, competitions, and trainings coordinated through Wilkes-Barre Connect. Both the THINK Center and Wilkes-Barre Connect will officially launch on November 14, to coincide with the start of Global Entrepreneurship Week. Starting that Monday, the Wilkes-Barre THINK Center will partner with Penn State Wilkes-Barre to unveil the five major components of the 2017 Greater Wilkes-Barre Connect work plan.
Tuesday November 15, 2016 TBA
Think Center7 South Main Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 1
