Exterior of the Lubar Entrepreneur Center building

Explore. Discover. Experiment.

Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem on UWM’s campus.

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.

Get Involved

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

255SC student enterprises since 2012
876participants trained in lean launch
7951customer interviews conducted since 2015
5,000students engaged in pop-up workshops in 2022-2023

Testimonials

Headshot of Alexis Nash

I wouldn’t have approached an outside mentor without the Student Startup Challenge. They coached me on how to introduce myself to someone and what questions to ask that would give me the information I needed.


Alexis Nash Human Resources, M.S., ’16
Headshot of Taffanie Johnson

The Student Startup Challenge helped me create a team and a solid business plan that was instrumental in starting Untangle. When you surround yourself with like-minded people who have the same goals and ambitions as you, I feel like anything is possible.


Taffanie Johnson College of Letters and Science, ’20

Events

News