Entrepreneurship Week
Entrepreneurship Week 2024 was a jam-packed week of festivities on the University of Denver campus focused on innovation, collaboration and creativity. The exciting week is designed to highlight entrepreneurship in Denver. Check out all of the events and programs offered during Entrepreneurship Week 2024 below.
Stay tuned for details on Entrepreneurship Week 2025!
Pop-Up Palooza: Spring Festival
Sunday, May 19
2–5 p.m.
Campus Green
Join us as we kick off Entrepreneurship Week with the third annual innovation festival, Pop-up Palooza, with Entrepreneurship@DU and the student entrepreneurship group DO U. This high-energy event provides a great opportunity for you to meet student entrepreneurs, learn about their businesses, try their products and connect with the hundreds of DU students attending. There will be plenty of swag, food, games, live music from Lamont School of Music students and more!
Think you have what it takes to become an entrepreneur? Do you have a business idea, but aren’t sure how to get started? Stop by any time during the event to connect with the E@DU team and explore the resources we have available to all DU students, faculty, staff and aspiring entrepreneurs. Registration not required.
Entrepreneurship Minor Dinner
Monday, May 20
6-8 p.m.
Joy Burns Center, Tuscan Ballroom
The Entrepreneurship Dinner is a time to celebrate the graduating seniors that have completed their entrepreneurship minor. In this inaugural dinner, seniors will be joined by entrepreneurship faculty to recognize their tremendous achievements and look toward their future outside of Daniels. This event is open to entrepreneurship minors and faculty.
Shaping Tomorrow: A Dialogue on the Future
Wednesday, May 22
6–7:30 p.m.
Community Commons Room 1700 and livestreamed
If you’re looking to learn about the future across a variety of fields, this event is for you! In this session, five leading experts will share what the future holds in their respective fields.
Speakers and Topics
The Future of Consumption
By Murat Kucukvar, assistant professor of business ethics and legal studies at the Daniels College of Business
In a world where we’re increasingly concerned with the impacts of our consumption on planetary health and sustainable development, it’s imperative to reconsider how we consume goods and resources. This session promises an engaging discussion on the future of consumption, centered around sustainability, technology and responsible consumption.
Biography
Daniels faculty member Murat Kucukvar is working on quantitative sustainability assessment, sustainable business/ESG, industrial sustainability and business analytics. He is listed among the world’s highly cited researchers for his work on life cycle sustainability assessment, carbon footprint analysis, triple-bottom-line sustainability accounting and sustainable supply chains.
The Future of Work
By John Winsor (MBA 1985), author, founder and executive-in-residence at Harvard Business School
In the new world of work, one thing is clear: the war for talent is over—and talent won. Join John Winsor as he discusses his new book “Open Talent: Leveraging the Global Workforce to Solve Your Biggest Challenges.” In this pivotal era, marked by rapid digital transformation and the rise of remote work, the world demands a recalibration of how we approach careers and talent development.
Biography
John Winsor is a prominent figure in strategic marketing and product innovation, known for his deep understanding of future work trends and open talent strategies. He founded and chairs Open Assembly, an organization pioneering the adoption of open talent and freelancing. Winsor is the executive-in-residence at Harvard Business School’s Laboratory for Innovation Science.
The Future of Education
By Susana Córdova, Colorado’s Commissioner of Education
Colorado K-12 education has seen a variety of challenges over the past few years, spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the Department of Education is supporting accelerated learning with a focus on teachers, students and leaders. Hear from Susana Córdova on what the future holds for education in Colorado.
Biography
In June 2023, Susana Córdova was named Colorado’s 18th education commissioner and the first Latina to hold the position. Prior to being named commissioner, Córdova spent more than 33 years in education. She served as an assistant principal, principal, director, chief academic officer, chief schools officer and deputy superintendent before becoming the superintendent of Denver Public Schools. She also served as deputy superintendent in Dallas ISD, the second-largest district in Texas.
By Claude d’Estrée, professor of international law and human rights at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies
In the coming decades the climate emergency will produce an extraordinary, even mind-numbing, number of climate refugees that will challenge not only our borders but how we fundamentally do business in both the public and private sectors. How will we respond to this? Is it a crisis or opportunity? Learn the answers to those important questions from an expert on the topic, Claude d’Estrée.
Biography
Claude d’Estrée is a professor of international law and human rights and director of the Center on Human Rights Education at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies. In addition to those topics, d’Estrée’s other main areas of interest are International Humanitarian Law of Armed Conflict (IHL/LOAC), torture and climate justice/climate refugees. He has been teaching a stand-alone IHL/LOAC course for eight years, as well as a special seminar on “Torture.”
The Future of Living and Community
By Chad McWhinney, CEO of McWhinney
By emphasizing a holistic approach to community building, through hybrid neighborhoods and mixed-use development, the future of real estate will be transformative for residents. In this talk, Chad McWhinney will dive into how the convergence of technology and smart real estate development is shaping communities; creating a space where living, working and leisure seamlessly integrate.
Biography
Co-founder, chairman and CEO Chad McWhinney is the visionary behind McWhinney’s mission of creating places people love. With over 30 years of real estate expertise, Chad has guided McWhinney to develop and plan over 4,000 acres of land and more than 13 million square feet of office, industrial, medical, hospitality, multifamily and retail properties, including more than 4,300 hotel keys and 5,300 units of multifamily apartments and built-for-rent homes. McWhinney oversees a portfolio of $4 billion in assets under management (AUM).
Entrepreneurship@DU Student Pitch Competition
Thursday, May 23
5:30 p.m.
Daniels College of Business, Marcus Commons
The Entrepreneurship Week Pitch Competition is E@DU’s grand finale, bringing a close to the University of Denver’s most innovative week. In its fourth year, the annual Pitch Competition is set to award more cash prizes than ever before, promising a thrilling competition. Whether pitching or attending, the event is guaranteed to be an exciting evening for all. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., the first pitch will be at 6 p.m. and there will be a reception to follow.
The pitch competition is designed to give students the opportunity to develop forward-thinking, socially impactful ideas aligned with the Daniels College of Business’ mission of leveraging business for the public good. As a result, participants will develop globally impactful solutions that are ready to bring to market.
Students: See the pitch competition page for information on how to enter.