Nebraska Global garners University of Nebraska entrepreneurship honor

Nebraska Global is the winner of the 2011 Walter Scott Award, University of Nebraska president James B. Milliken announced Monday. The award, one of the…

Nebraska Global is the winner of the 2011 Walter Scott Award, University of Nebraska president James B. Milliken announced Monday.

The award, one of the university’s most prestigious for entrepreneurship, is designed to encourage existing businesses with a presence in Nebraska to create partnerships with NU in the area of technology. It comes with a $10,000 prize to be used for the promotion and/or creation of student work experiences in the fields of information science, technology and engineering. According to a press release, Nebraska Global, a Lincoln-based venture capital fund, plans to use that money to support its summer internship program, which is set to employ 22 students this year.

“Nebraska Global is a great partner in efforts to build a knowledge-based innovation economy in Nebraska, which is essential to the state growing and thriving in the 21st century,” Milliken said in a release. “I commend Nebraska Global for its efforts in mentoring our students, partnering with the university and helping to ensure the long-term economic success of Nebraska.” (Below: Milliken. Photo from Nebraska.edu)

Nebraska Global is involved at the university in other ways. Nebraska Global is sponsoring a design studio project with a group of students from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management, and its employees teach classes at the university on topics such as software architecture, database design and management.

“We are adamant that while the university strives to educate and graduate the best students possible, it is the responsibility of private businesses to shoulder the burden of providing real opportunities, not the token stuff too many companies try to paint as an opportunity, while these kids are in school,” Nebraska Global principal and COO Patrick Smith said in a release. “Our community’s ability to create sustainable, high-paying, 21st-century jobs that smart kids seek is one of the very few game-changers that matter for an expanded technology climate in our state. Almost everything else is just talk.”

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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