Entrepeneurship Support at UConn
UConn Library supports campus entrepreneurs enrolled in courses and programs, commercializing research, and launching startups on their own or via a campus accelerator. For more information or questions about anything on this page, please get in touch with Business & Entrepreneurship Librarian Edward Lim.
This guide will help you learn how to:
- Write a business plan
- Research industry information, competitors, customers, financial data
- Do market research
- Advertising and Promotion
- Find help and advice for starting your business
- Find information about grants, loans and financing
- Find information about franchises and franchising
Research tools and support
- Entrepreneurship databasesAn A-to-Z list of databases useful for entrepreneurship research by students, faculty and staff.
- Resources of Small Businesses in ConnecticutThe new and growing collection by UConn Library has primary materials about how companies based in Connecticut started, marketed themselves, and dealt with different economic and demographic forces. Materials include posters, fliers, newsletters, annual reports, marketing videos, advertising, newspapers, state and regional magazines, commercials; price lists, menus, and other items that show the products and services of the business.
This collection can also be used for entrepreneurship education, to showcase how small businesses are important to our state’s economic development. You can learn how these businesses started, changed, struggled, and thrived. - Ask a LibrarianLibrarians are available to support your research via email or in-person consultation or referral.
Workshops and instruction
- Entrepreneurship research workshopsOpen workshops are open to the UConn community at all stages of your entrepreneurship journey.
- Market & industry research: What is my industry?This is an introductory-level, self-paced activity - no prior experience required. You should schedule a 30-mins debrief session with the Business & Entrepreneurship Librarian post-activity.
- To infinity and beyond: How UConn can help meOrientation to campus resources for those with startups or interested in startups, including accelerators, courses and programs, library resources, commercialization, funding opportunities, and Connecticut community resources. This session features a panel of UConn student startups who will share their experiences and answer audience questions. This is an introductory-level orientation activity with zero commitment, available to anyone.
Faculty and instructors can request instructional support on library market research resources by contacting Business & Entrepreneurship Librarian Edward Lim. Find out more about how librarians support teaching.
- UConn Library Maker Studio
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Attend a scheduled orientation session covering Standard Safety Protocol, Maker Studio Expectations, and a Maker Studio Equipment Overview, in order to gain access to the equipment housed at the UConn Library Maker Studio at Homer Babbidge Library, Level B.
Library Access
UConn students, faculty, staff, and affiliated researchers can access library resources on- and off-campus with their UConn NetID.
Please find out about access for our community borrower program and visitors.
Suppose someone who works with you, a seller, or another guest needs to use the University’s online resources. In that case, they must be signed up as an affiliate using the Account Sponsorship Application. Make sure to look at the Sponsoring Accounts article in the knowledge base.
Connecticut Community links
- Connecticut Small Business Development Center (Connecticut SBDC)Funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, and the University of Connecticut. SBDC advisors provide no-cost advisory services to small businesses in all industries and stages of development.
- Launc[H]artfordThe driving force behind the development of Hartford’s innovation ecosystem. They are led by innovators and entrepreneurs from across the community. Their common goal is making Hartford the best place on the East Coast to start or grow a business.
- reSET Social Enterprise TrustServes all entrepreneurs, but specializes in social enterprise – impact driven business with a double and sometimes triple bottom line. Provides co-working space and accelerator and mentoring programs, aims to inspire innovation and community collaboration, and to support entrepreneurs in creating market-based solutions to community challenges.
- thinkfwdBased in New Haven, and supports your team’s innovation with tools, templates, and activities.
- Ferguson Public Library (Stamford, CT)Supports local entrepreneurs and small business owners in a variety of ways. The library has an Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIR) available by appointment to help early-stage entrepreneurs conceptualize and grow their ideas into companies. The library also provides business intelligence resources (in print and digital) in the form of the Stamford Small Business Resource Center which entrepreneurs can use to create financial statements, business plans, SWOT analysis, and pitch decks.
Business & Entrepreneurship Librarian
Edward Junhao Lim
he/him/his
UConn Community links
- Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CCEI)Housed within the UConn School of Business, supports entrepreneurship activity at UConn. They run the greatest number of programs for UConn community, such as their:
- TractionOffers a series of workshops, office hours with mentor, a point system for students to gain access to seed funding, and an application process to join our incubation space, following an semester cohort model.
- BUILD HartfordOffers entrepreneurial education and real-world applications for students to create innovative projects that aid in the development of Hartford.
- Get SeededA pitch competition for the UConn community.
- Accelerate UConnOur university’s National Science Foundation Innovation Corps Site.
- CCEI Summer FellowshipOur university’s startup accelerator program.
- Wolff New Venture CompetitionHosts the top startups from their accelerator program (CCEI Summer Fellowship).
- Innovation Quest (iQ)An annual pitch competition open to all UConn undergraduate and graduate students, as well as alumni who have graduated within one year. They have also started an accompanying incubator/accelerator program called the Summer InQbator.
- OPIM InnovateAn educational research lab located at UConn School of Business Room 391 (Storrs campus). Another space is their XR Hub for hands-on discovery of Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and 360° video equipment located in Room 388. They also offer hands-on, technology-oriented workshops and coffee chats.
- The Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship and InnovationResponsible for a number of signature programs, such as the Experience Innovation Expo, NetWerx, Werth Innovators, Stamford Startup Studio (S3), HackUConn, and the Center for Neurodiversity and Employment.
- Innovation Zone Makerspace (IZM)
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Located at the Peter J. Werth Residence Tower. Besides being a makerspace with equipment, they also host student-led Skillshare sessions. - Innovate Wellness
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An UConn Student Health and Wellness initiative with additional support from the UConn Wellness Coalition. It is a space for students to come together to and, through the design thinking process, develop innovative solutions for health and wellness concerns they see on campus through various workshops and programmatic offerings such as the Innovate Wellness Challenge, Design Thinking Workshop Series, and working with campus partners. - UConn Innovation PortalHoused within UConn’s Office of the Vice President for Research, Technology Commercialization Services, works to transform UConn discoveries into products, companies, and jobs that benefit society and fuel economic development.
- Intellectual Property & Entrepreneurship Law ClinicHosted by UConn School of Law, the clinic assists eligible Connecticut innovator-entrepreneurs with intellectual property matters, including patent, copyright and trademark issues.
- Hillside VenturesAn early-stage venture fund supporting companies either founded by UConn alumni or that are in the sustainability, insurtech, or edtech industries. They are UConn’s student-run venture fund.
Contact
For more information or questions about how the library can support your startup and market research, please contact Business & Entrepreneurship Librarian Edward Lim.
