Programs, Events, & Engagement

Tyree Innovation Fellowship Community – An exclusive, applied-for, first- and second year-focused program that is designed to build inventive, innovative, and entrepreneurial thinking and skills, culminating in Innovation Experiential Certificates and Entrepreneurial Experiential Certificates for those students who complete all the requirements. Students bond as a cohort and experience real-world innovation and entrepreneurship challenges, grow key soft skills in critical thinking, creative problem-solving, innovation, and entrepreneurship, and build networks and confidence that will stay with students for life.

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Invention, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship (IIE) Experience – is designed for students who want to explore and experience the world of creating solutions to the world’s biggest challenges. This is a prelude program to jumpstart to Tyree Innovation Fellowship Programs by introducing students to key programs, themes, and experiences that form these year-long programs leading to certificate. Students in the 3-day IIE program will experience multiple field trips to explore innovation around Hartford, including planned visits to New England Air Museum where you can see the latest cool innovations and inventions driving our aerospace programs today, and a behind-the-scenes look at the engineering and invention that powers amusement park rides – visiting Six Flags New England to see them in action. Students will begin learning about how inventions and innovations get created with activities and learning from the Connecticut Invention Convention and MakerSpaceCT programs – with hands-on making and inventing fun in the largest makerspace in CT. Finally, students will bond with fellow student innovators and alumni and get introduced to Trinity’s innovation resources on and off campus – all while having fun and building your own innovative and entrepreneurial mindsets. Join us – no matter your intended major – to explore how asking the right questions can lead to new and creative solutions to change the world around us for the better.

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When: Yearly in September

What: Join the Elting Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Entrepreneurship Club for Trinity’s annual Idea Hackathon – a lively event for students who want to share their ideas for entrepreneurial ventures with others and get feedback. Students pitch their ideas and answer audience questions, receiving guidance and feedback throughout the experience. Awards include the most marketable idea, the idea with the greatest chance to change the world, and even the idea that “Mom and Dad would want you to vote for!”

INFO: This event is open to Trinity Students only.

When: Yearly in January

What: First-year students take on an invention exercise to learn about creative-problem solving, persuasive communication, teamwork, and the innovative mindset. Students evaluate problems and learn methodologies to develop solutions, from concept to prototyping. Students pick a problem to work on and invent their own solution. They pitch their inventions at the annual Summit Innovation Challenge judged event.  Read about the 2024 Challenge.

This has been sponsored by The Beba Foundation in 2023, 2024 and 2025. The Beba Foundation is dedicated to building mindsets of innovative youth and female entrepreneurs.

INFO: Participation is open to Trinity Students only.

When: Yearly in March

What: Each spring, the Elting Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship will host a Techstars Startup Weekend on campus— a three-day program for aspiring entrepreneurs to experience startup life.  In 54 hours, students go from pitching ideas for a startup on Friday night to presenting their strategy before seasoned entrepreneur and venture capital judges over the weekend.  Student teams develop ideas, seek market feedback, prototype if possible, and prepare a final presentation on their idea.  Mentors and supporters (including marketing, prototyping, engineering, and other volunteers) help the students achieve their goals at each step. By the end of the weekend, students will have had an immersive experience in what it means to be an entrepreneur!

INFO: This event is open to all Trinity Students and the Hartford region at large. This event is in planning.

Student groups around inventing, innovation, entrepreneurship, investing, venture capital, marketing, management consulting, and more — and the Entrepreneurship Center is helping guide and support these students to help each other learn and grow.

Founded in 2021, the Trinity College Student Entrepreneurship Club is a highly diverse student-run organization that meets regularly and holds events, functions, meetups, and other activities for students interested in learning innovation and entrepreneurial skills and in starting their own venture. The club offers mentoring, career advice, and education to drive greater interest and success in entrepreneurial activities.  Students constantly interface with the Entrepreneurship Center to provide active participation in center impact on and off campus.

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Founded in 1966 and rebranded in 2022, the Trinity College Student Investment Fund is an elite student-managed fund organized at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. The fund holds multiple functions as we manage $700,000 of Trinity’s endowment with an additional emphasis on member education. The fund operates as a buy-side management firm and through mentoring, career advice, and education its aim to provide members with the tools for success in a range of financial careers. Utilizing its Bloomberg Financial Research & Technology Center, the fund enhances members’ aptitude in investing and applying fundamental skills.

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Founded in 2022, the Trinity College Consulting Club is a passionate student-run organization with a directed interest in management consulting pathways.  The group meets regularly and holds events and activities for students interested in learning strategic management consulting skills and hands-on engagement opportunities with local Hartford and alumni businesses. The club offers mentoring, career advice, and education to drive greater interest and success in consulting activities.

Partners extend Trinity’s capabilities and opportunities and drive new and engaging opportunities for students to learn and engage with the Hartford Community and beyond.

Trinity is proud of its partner relationships and invests the College’s assets and passion in advancing our mutual interests.  With a particular focus on impacting the Greater Hartford region, the Entrepreneurship Center is teaming with key historical partners on specific innovation and entrepreneurial interests.  Trinity’s many such partners include:

• Infosys
• Hartford Healthcare
• Connecticut Children’s
• Stanley Black & Decker
• Launc[H]artford/University of Connecticut

The Entrepreneurship Center is expanding its partnership relationships and pursuing more strategic programs of engagement.  Look for more exciting news on these in upcoming months.

Want to partner with Trinity’s Entrepreneurship Center?  Contact Us!

Alumni and corporate sponsors bring forward real-world problems to senior students, who work with mentors to investigate, design, and present solutions to the sponsors. Students work as members of their sponsor technical teams to learn new skills and experience actual creative and technical development in real-world settings.

A tremendous opportunity for corporate and startup partners to engage with talented and passionate Trinity fourth-year students to solve real-world problems together

Under the Sponsored Senior Capstone Projects program at Trinity, alumni and corporate sponsors bring forward real-world problems to senior students, who work with mentors to investigate, design, and present solutions to the sponsors. Students work as members of their sponsor technical teams to learn new skills and experience actual creative and technical development.

• Gain hands-on experience
• Build real-world skills
• Meet academic requirements
• Expand professional network and relationships

• Gain valuable research and fresh ideas from students & faculty
• Contribute to student education
• Efficient use of research dollars
• If alumni, give back to Trinity

This is a program predominantly designed for Senior Capstone Projects/Senior Projects but can be applied to other instances as well. This links corporate sponsors who have problems that need solving, with student(s) who would like to work on those problems for their senior project coursework.

There is a $5,000 fee to the department overseeing the senior project, paid by the sponsor.

This is a school year-long experience and creates an environment where Trinity students and faculty are working with corporations to solve problems – and creating future internship, job offer, experiential learning and other benefits in the process.

1. Sponsors work with the Elting Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the involved department to refine a proposed concept into a final project.
2. Students review available projects from the Elting Center and select projects they would like to work on, either as individuals or in teams.
3. Sponsors meet with the department and students and confirm a go-ahead on the project.  An overseeing faculty member is assigned to the project.
4. Sponsors remit the $5,000 project fee and the students begin working on the project with the sponsor.
5. At the end of the school year, the students prepare a final deliverable for the sponsor and complete the project — presenting the results of the project at the Senior Project Poster Day and other presentations as required by the department.

This program is governed by a legal licensing agreement with Trinity that is available on request.

For more information, contact [email protected].

A tremendous opportunity for alumni to engage with talented and passionate Trinity fourth-year students to evaluate potential startup concepts together.

Building on our impressive alumni network, the Sponsored Alumni Startup Projects Program fields ideas from alumni who know their markets and needs, and who bring their startup ideas to campus to pitch to student teams to pursue.

This program is in development but is meant to be designed to encourage student teams to form around alumni ideas, and then tap their knowledge, networks and other resources to develop the idea to the point of a go/no go. If a go, the students can form a company, raise funds, hire talent, and proceed with the startup using Trinity’s startup support ecosystem.

This builds on the passion of students, the expertise of faculty and staff, and the extensive experience of alumni to craft startups with a better chance of being successful than undergraduate students’ home-grown ideas.

• Gain hands-on startup experience
• Build real-world skills
• Meet academic requirements
• Expand professional network and relationships
• Possibly create a future job opportunity

• Gain valuable research and input from students & faculty
• Contribute to student education
• Efficient use of research dollars
• If alumni, give back to Trinity
• Gain potential future benefit from successful implementations

This is a program predominantly designed for Senior Capstone Projects/Senior Projects but can be applied to other instances as well. This links alumni who have viable, commercializable ideas worth pursuing, with student(s) who would like to work on those ideas for their senior project coursework and potential future engagement post-graduation.

There is a $5,000 fee to the department overseeing the senior project, paid by the alumni.

This is a school year-long experience and creates an environment where Trinity students and faculty are working with alumni to solve problems – and creating experiential learning and future potential employment opportunities in the process.

1. Alumni work with the Elting Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the involved department to refine a proposed concept into a final project.
2. Students review available projects from the Elting Center and select projects they would like to work on, either as individuals or in teams.
3. Alumni meet with the department and students and confirm a go-ahead on the project.  An overseeing faculty member is assigned to the project.
4. Alumni remit the $5,000 project fee and the students begin working on the project with the alumni.
5. At the end of the school year, the students prepare a final deliverable for the alumni and complete their assessment of the project — presenting the results of the project at the Senior Project Poster Day and other presentations as required by the department.
6. Alumni and the Elting Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship evaluate results and consider potential next steps, including possibly launching a company around the results of the project.

This program is governed by a legal licensing agreement with Trinity that is available on request.

For more information, contact [email protected].

An immersive, experiential, cohort experience to learning life-long leadership, innovation, inventive, and entrepreneurial skills — through activities, field trips, speakers, mentors, networking, events, and other exciting hands-on, real-world experiences.

One of the newest initiatives of the Entrepreneurship Center is the INNOVATE Innovation and Entrepreneurship Living Learning Community for first-year students.

With a theme of “learning by doing,” the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Living Learning Community immerses students in a creative, inventive, and entrepreneurial environment of activities, field trips, speaker and networking opportunities, and other activities that build skillsets and mindsets for whatever major or career students intend to pursue.

All lines of work and play are enhanced by having innovative and entrepreneurial mindsets, and mastering so-called “soft skills” at an early stage of your college career will enhance and expand many of your opportunities down the road.

• The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Living Learning Community is a group of up to 60 students clustered together in the same residential living area.
• Lead by an on-floor innovator-in-residence, students undertake a series of individual and group engagements that build confidence, knowledge, skills, and networks.
• Regular and engaged meetings and activities progress student self-awareness, creative thinking, and predisposition towards innovative and entrepreneurial action.
• Field trips to local innovators and entrepreneurs expose students to many diverse and stimulating case studies for how problems are bring solved in the real-world around us.
• Semester long activities create immersive learning environments to achieve distinctive skills and achievement goals.

The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Living Learning Community closely aligns with the Innovation Fellowship program, and most Innovation and Entrepreneurship Living Learning Community students have also been accepted into that program.

First-year students select the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Living Learning Community during their application for on-campus Housing and are notified of their acceptance as part of that process.  Students accepted into the Innovation Fellowship will have priority selection spots in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Living Learning Community housing lottery.

Students interested in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Living Learning Community Living Learning Community are also advised to consider applying for the Invention, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Orientation Next program during First Year Orientation in August.

For more information, contact Danny Briere, Executive Director.