Participants gather at the open house in the Ina Mae Rude Entrepreneur Center. Photo by Nick Nelson/ The Dakota Student

The UND Center for Innovation had an open house Tuesday to celebrate its 30th anniversary in Grand Forks.

The event spanned over a three-hour period where anyone with an interest in the center could come in, get a tour and learn about small business start ups.

The Center for Innovation was initially launched with a core focus on innovation, entrepreneurship and investment and these are still the focus today three decades later. The center is a division of the UND College of Business and Public Administration, which helps students and researchers launch new technologies, develop business plans and gain access to secure funding.

Over the past 30 years, the center has launched more than 670 startups, attracted around $140 million in investments and was recognized as North Dakota’s first Center for Excellence in Economic Development in 2003.

Small Business Innovation Research Program Director Tyler Okerlund, described his position as one that, “Helps small businesses find federal funding … and works with federal and state contracting.”

Coming from a military background, Okerlund was invited to work at the center for his expertise in matters including federal funding and military contracts, which differs from other former students who have first gone through an internship program and afterwards gain full time employment.

“We are a one-stop-shop for information on small business startup,” Okerlund said.

Since the center is a division of the School of Business and particularly focuses on entrepreneurship, it could be assumed that they would mainly help students with majors consistent with that focus.

However, the center sees a variety of majors, from history, to unmanned aircraft, to education. A communication student, for example, could go in with an idea and get the same assistance as someone taking 15 credits of marketing and entrepreneurship classes. 

Aside from the open house, the center also had posters up around the building advertising another event coming up Oct. 16 to 18 called Startup Weekend Grand Forks. This three-day long program is for developers, designers, marketers and students to share ideas, build products and essentially launch a startup in only 54 hours.

The weekend’s activities are sponsored by companies such as Xcel Energy and Bremer Bank, which prove the Center for Innovation has connections with some of the bigger names in Grand Forks and across the country.

Even after 30 years, the Center for Innovation is  bringing together students and researchers to educate each other and to create. CEO Bruce Gjovig as well as other Board of Trustees members continue to be a helpful resource to the Center and its partners. Okerlund said that if they don’t have the answers, Gjovig usually does. With hundreds of connections and about 15 staff members in the center full time, this seems like the perfect place to go if you’re interested in starting a small business. Okerlund said there is no one group the center focuses on helping, rather they help, anyone with an idea.

Hannah Amundson is a features reporter for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected]