Inspired by student success, a new centralized space for student entrepreneurship will combine innovation and opportunity and bring business ideas to life at Boise State.
The Junction, Boise State’s on-campus hub for entrepreneurship and community engagement, launched Tuesday, Oct. 21. The launch event, held at Stueckle Sky Center, brought together university faculty and community members to introduce and celebrate the new addition to campus.
Interim President Jeremiah Shinn opened the event at the Stueckle Sky Center, describing The Junction as an effort to strengthen the university’s capacity for “business innovation, research, translation and venture creation.”
“Boise State is more than just a university,” Shinn said. ”It’s a community anchor, it’s a forced multiplier, it’s a partner in the growth of our state.”
Located in Capitol Village, The Junction will serve as a meeting space for the university’s partners, including Venture College, Trailhead, TechHelp, Studio\Blu, The Idaho Small Business Development Center, the College of Business and Economics, the Office of Community Engagement and the Office of Technology Transfer.
The College of Innovation and Design and the Division of Research and Economic Development serve as institutional sponsors for The Junction. Idaho organizations will also have access to The Junction, providing networking opportunities for students across different industries.
The space is expected to be completed and ready for use this month. The Junction Director, Roger Brown, said he anticipates an engaging space for collaboration between students, partners and organizations.
“The emphasis really has to be on that student energy. Young people are the thing, right?” Brown said. “Every great creative movement has come from young people, and I think our campus reflects that value, but I want entrepreneurship and translation of research to reflect that value.”
With these partners accessible in one space, students with business ideas can access resources provided by each partner. These resources will help students come up with ideas, form pitches, receive funding and identify real customers.
During the event, Vice President of Research and Economic Development Nancy Glenn noted Boise State’s progress in becoming an R1 University, and that The Junction will contribute to these efforts by making the university’s research “more impactful” and applicable to real-world issues.
Plans for The Junction first formed last spring. Associate Dean of the College of Innovation and Design Jenn Schneider said with the success of Boise Entrepreneurship Week each fall, the university aimed to find new ways to support student entrepreneurs.
“We want to help [partners] work together more efficiently and in a more coordinated way, so that when people approach us to partner, we’re not sending them to six different buildings or six degree emails — we’re all in one location and really connected in a way that makes it easier to partner,” Schneider said.
“At the same time, in that building, there’s going to be a bunch of folks from the community who run organizations or who work for the state government, or who are CEOs of companies, and that’s an incredible chance to get to know those people,” she added.
Schneider noted Venture College, one of the partner organizations within The Junction, has seen great success in aiding students with their business ideas.
One business idea, started by Chris Dagher and Oliver MacDonald, led them to win this year’s Boise Entrepreneur Week Main Pitch Competition, awarding them $50,000. The two started QtexAI, a platform that uses artificial intelligence technology to connect engineers with where to obtain parts for engineering projects.
Dagher’s original idea was an artificial intelligence platform that could identify where to obtain parts needed for specific projects. He first came up with the idea while working on a project where he encountered difficulties in finding the right MOSFET, a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor used in electronics.
Upon realizing this could be a viable solution, Dagher shared his ideas with MacDonald, and the two began pursuing the idea as a potential business. Dagher completed most of the coding for the platform while MacDonald serves as the Chief Marketing Officer.
“It really is the coordination piece between an engineer who needs a lot of data and a lot of information, and the database that has all that stuff,” Dagher said.
Venture College Director Cara Van Sant worked closely with Dagher and MacDonald during their journey of launching QtexAI and said that they are a “good example of how [Boise State’s] programs and community resources build on each other.”
After QtexAI’s ongoing success, Dagher and MacDonald highlighted the benefits of having a “single touchpoint” like The Junction for students interested in pursuing their own business ideas. With The Junction coming into fruition, students with business ideas, like Dagher and MacDonald, can access resources from Venture College and other university partners in one place.
“The amount of reach you can get just through knowing people is something I feel most students end up missing … people don’t tend to realize how important it is to have that structure around you to just ask for support when you need it,” MacDonald said.
Van Sant noted her excitement in Venture College joining The Junction due to how the different resources complement each other.
“We are often referring entrepreneurs elsewhere, so being able to have them just down the hallway is going to be key and make that entrepreneurial journey even better,” Van Sant said.
