Farley Center the Focus in Crain’s Feature
Publication examines the Farley Center's entrepreneurial and startup success
From Syndio, a software platform that helps organizations identify employees’ personal strengths to better maximize efficiency and communication, to SiNode Systems, whose silicon-graphene composite technology produces longer lasting and faster charging lithium-ion batteries, the Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation has helped guide many noteworthy student startups over the past eight years.
A feature on the center in Crain’s Chicago Business explains that much of its success stems from its NUvention program, a suite of interdisciplinary courses that exposes students from McCormick and schools across Northwestern University to the entire innovation and entrepreneurial life cycle and helps them understand how innovations can become viable businesses. Offered through specialized course tracks like energy and analytics, NUvention encourages collaboration among students with different majors and academic strengths, which has helped multiple startup companies transition from the classroom to the corporate world.
According to Michael Marasco, who serves as director of Farley and who was named one of Crain’s “Tech 50 for 2014,” the Center has produced 10 startups over the last decade that are now worth a combined $500 million, with possibly five more “robust” companies emerging within the next two years.