Home - Lubar Entrepreneurship Center

Get Involved

Resources for getting involved with entrepreneurship at UWM including competitions, courses, student organizations, and programs.

Courses with Innovation

A network of experiential courses that integrate entrepreneurial thinking into existing curriculum from business to the arts.

Startup Challenge

Students develop ideas into prototypes with the help of workshops, mentorship, and UWM resources.

Southeast Wisconsin NSF I-Corps

Funded by the National Science Foundation, faculty and students work with local business mentors to explore commercializing research ideas.

Social Good Morning

Hosted by our very own Entrepreneur-in-Residence of Social Innovation, Mark Fairbanks. Hear from social entrepreneurs from the Milwaukee community.

Diverse Ideas

This series is co-sponsored by UWM’s by Institute of World Affairs and the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center to feature entrepreneurial speakers from a diverse set of backgrounds in Milwaukee.

Pop Ups

Engaging experiential workshops that encourage creative thinking, innovation, and fosters Milwaukee's entrepreneurial ecosystem.

University Innovation Fellows

A nationwide program run by Stanford University where students train with colleagues from across the country to become change agents for innovation and entrepreneurship on their campuses.

UWM Innovators Expo

A free public event that showcases the newest student, faculty, and staff startups and celebrates entrepreneurship.

Business Model Canvas Mixer

We invite students to an innovative brainstorm session with Milwaukee students, faculty, staff as well as community business leaders. This event is the official kick off to the Startup Challenge and part of Milwaukee Startup Week.

Grow your ideas with us.

The UWM Lubar Entrepreneurship Center is a powerful resource for entrepreneurs, innovators, and anyone who wants to make a positive change in their community. From courses and programs to workshops and networking opportunities, LEC provides the tools you need to transform your ideas into reality, whether you’re a UWM student, faculty, or staff.

Faculty Feature – Nina Johnston

UWM Innovators

Hybrid Speedskating Clap Skate

Hope Glassel Photography

184 SC student enterprises since 2012

>500 participants trained in lean launch

5,993 customer interviews conducted

4,983 students engaged in pop-up workshops in 2020 – 2021

"My time at the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center has been completely invaluable. I made many dozens of connections related to my product, many of whom gave me advice which altered my path to success, I learned about lean launch methodology which helped me conduct over 100 customer discovery interviews and create a stellar minimum viable product."

Kyah Probst

Education '22

Meet the coolest people, have pragmatic chats, leave refreshed and inspired.

Allyn Lottouzee

Political Science '22

Working with the LEC has provided me a wealth of knowledge and social capital to succeed in my goals as a social entrepreneur. The local social innovators featured at Social Good Mornings have been exceptionally inspiring; hearing their challenges and how they have overcome adversity has given me the fortitude to pursue my goals.

Mark Guzman, M.P.A.

Master of Public Administration '21

I greatly enjoy attending Social Good Morning and always leave with fresh perspectives on social innovation, empathy and the power of connection.

Hameed Kutubi

Civil Engineering, B.S.E. '21

Social innovations are new social practices that aim to meet social needs in a better way than the existing solutions, resulting from working conditions, education, community development or health. Social Good Morning gives us new ideas so we can create with the goals of strengthening civil society.

Crissi Bates

Biomedical Science, B.A. '21