University of Missouri-Kansas City

  • Kauffman Foundation pledges $5M to UMKC campaign for entrepreneurship

    Last week the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation announced a $5 million pledge to The Campaign for UMKC, an initiative to build a new Free Enterprise Center on the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Volker campus. The funds will be used to help boost entrepreneurship and economic development efforts…

  • Digital Sandbox reveals director and board of advisors, opens applications

    A group led by the University of Missouri-Kansas City Innovation Center unveiled its plans today for Digital Sandbox KC, a proof-of-concept and mentoring center made possible by a $1 million federal grant last year. During a press event at Union Station, the Digital Sandbox’s future home, officials introduced the center’s director and board of advisors…

  • Watch the Digital Sandbox KC announcement at 1:30 p.m.

    The University of Missouri-Kansas City Innovation Center at 1:30 p.m. today will reveal the details of Digtal Sandbox KC, a new proof-of-concept and mentoring center that’s a result of a $1 million federal grant in 2012. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and a group of executives from notable Kansas City …

  • UMKC-led group lands $1 million grant to foster growth of tech startups

    The U.S. Department of Commerce today announced a $1 million grant to fund the creation of a proof of concept center, known as “the Digital Sandbox,” that seeks to spur the development of technology startups in the Kansas City area. Led by the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s …

  • Entrepreneurs in Residence: Molding a new type of university innovator

    Any alumnus of Iowa State University is familiar with the work of Christian Petersen, even though it’s been more than 50 years since he set foot on campus in Ames. Petersen was artist in residence from 1933 to 1955 and left his mark by crafting 12 major sculptures for ISU while teaching and mentoring students.…

  • OfficePort founder Jolles finds home, hotbed of creativity in Kansas City

    Shaul Jolles loves Kansas City. And it shows. Jolles, a University of Missouri-Kansas City graduate who was born and raised in Israel, landed in the Kansas City area over a decade ago after serving in the Israeli army. Initially intending to only stay for a semester during his undergraduate studies, he’s still in Kansas City…

  • Prairie Portrait: Tom Boozer of UMKC

    Name: Tom Boozer | Title: Interim Associate Director of the Entrepreneurship Scholars Program, Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Missouri Kansas City | Age: 45 City: Kansas City, Mo. | Silicon Prairie News: Early in your career you developed products for aircraft passenger cabins. What was one part of the cabin you…

  • UMKC’s top innovation management ranking big for ‘entrepreneurial city’

    The University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) earlier this month announced it was ranked as the world’s No. 1 university in innovation management research by the Journal of Product Innovation Management, a leading academic journal devoted to the latest research, theory and practice in new product and service development. The rankings will be published in …

  • Bloch donates record $32 million to UMKC business school for expansion

    The University of Missouri-Kansas City business school on Thursday officially announced a $32 million gift, the largest in its history, with an apparent eye toward innovation and entrepreneurship. Henry W. Bloch, the co-founder of H&R Block and the namesake of UMKC’s Bloch School, donated the $32 million. It will help fund an expansion, which will…