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Higher Education

The Center hosts the IgniteWV Competition, formally known as the Statewide Business Plan Competition and supports other programming to promote entrepreneurship and innovation in higher education throughout the state. The Encova Center also provides support to the Entrepreneurship Curriculum and student experiential learning projects at WVU.

IgniteWV

IgniteWV is a competition that seeks to fuel new or existing businesses by offering funding, coaching, and training to start or grow businesses in the Mountain State. The competition is open to anyone 18 years or older with a new idea or existing business in West Virginia

 IgniteWV 

Impact Challenge 

The WVU Impact Challenge is an immersive weekend experience that gives students the opportunity to work in teams to define solutions for West Virginia’s most pressing challenges. Students learn how to create profitable, scalable business models to solve important problems, and pitch their ideas to judges to compete for prize money. One credit is awarded to participants who complete necessary coursework.

Impact Challenge Weekend 

LaunchLab

The LaunchLab is a portal for students, offering guidance and assistance with opportunities through pitch competitions, grant applications, workshops and more.

LaunchLab

Entrepreneurship Curriculum

The Encova Center provides support for the Entrepreneurship and Innovation degree program as well as the Entrepreneurial Studies minor at WVU.

Entrepreneurship Curriculum

Impact Challenge Resource Package 

Working in multidisciplinary teams, students consider Appalachia's greatest challenges and crate scalable, innovative pathways to help move WV Forward. This program was designed to be implemented into any school or classroom. 

Contact us for a free playbook and assistance launching.

Student Organizations

WVU Entrepreneurship Club

The WVU Entrepreneurship club encourages college students to seek out entrepreneurial opportunities. WVU’s chapter meets regularly to explore entrepreneurial ventures, as well as host guest speakers from the business world.

Find WVU Entrepreneurship Club on WVUEngage