The UW offers a wide variety of educational and learning opportunities to build skills in innovation and entrepreneurship at any point in the journey. From undergraduate and master’s degree programs to leading research organizations, from incubators and accelerators to internships and mentorship, the UW has it all.
Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship
The Buerk Center serves the entire campus with exceptional academic programs and real-world experiences. Students and faculty who engage with the center make strong connections to the Seattle entrepreneurial community. Early-stage entrepreneurs from all majors and disciplines define their journey — from ideation to launch and everything in between.
Undergraduate students
Lavin Entrepreneurship Program
This extracurricular program is for undergraduate entrepreneurs from all majors and disciplines across campus. By combining curriculum with hands-on learning and a cohort of students all immersed in the startup experience, the UW Buerk Center gives Lavin students the experience, skills and know-how to succeed in their future business ventures.
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Graduate students
Entrepreneurship Certificate
The Buerk Center’s certificate in entrepreneurship prepares UW graduate and PhD students for the world of startups and new technology enterprises. Certificate students, whose disciplines range from engineering and architecture to drama and medicine, take classes, work with UW inventors on their market-ready applications, gain real-world experience, and network with the region’s most innovative entrepreneurs.
Learn MoreColleges and schools
UW offers many undergraduate and graduate programs with a focus on innovation and entrepreneurship. They come from a variety of UW colleges and schools and include Institutes, Labs, courses, capstones, certificates and training programs.
Undergraduate programs
From fields as diverse as clean energy, the environment, engineering, information science, and of course, business, UW undergraduate programs teach innovation and entrepreneurship skills. Learn how capstone projects help students distill the knowledge and skills acquired in academic courses and apply them to real-world projects.
Clean Energy Institute (CEI) at the University of Washington
- Undergraduate opportunities at CEI: CEI supports the next generation of clean energy leaders and innovators through their unique education, outreach, and research training programs.
College of Engineering
- Industry Capstone Program: The program brings together UW students and companies to tackle real-world, multidisciplinary engineering problems.
- Computer Science Engineering Entrepreneurship: Company-Building from Formation to Successful Exit: This entrepreneurship course is about starting, growing, managing, leading, and ultimately exiting a new venture.
- Chemical Engineering entrepreneurial design: As entrepreneurs and startup founders, ChemE students, faculty, and graduates are using their knowledge and lab work to create innovative solutions and products.
- Electrical & Computer Engineering, Innovation and Entrepreneurial (ENGINE) capstone program (ENGINE): Develops students’ skills in collaborative systems engineering and project management, while supporting a thriving culture of innovation at the UW and within the local community through industry partnerships and student mentorship.
- Engineering Innovation in Health: EIH is a program that promotes interdisciplinary collaboration between engineering and the health sciences with the goal of developing technical solutions to pressing challenges in health care.
College of the Environment
- EarthLab: Accelerates and focuses UW expertise to address large-scale environmental challenges, making a positive impact on people’s lives and livelihoods.
Foster School of Business
- Entrepreneurship Minor: Open to all non-business undergraduate students, the Foster School’s competitive Entrepreneurship Minor offers students the opportunity to leverage their unique talents, as well as their new-found business knowledge, to achieve their startup goals.
- Entrepreneurship Option (for business majors): Prepares students for an entrepreneurial career by offering a combination of coursework and practical experience.
Information School
- iSchool Capstone Program: The culmination of students’ learning experience, iSchool capstone projects distill the knowledge and skills acquired in academic courses and apply them to a real-world project.
Graduate and other programs
Find programs here from the Evans School, Clean Energy Institute, College of the Environment, Foster School of Business, and the iSchool.
Clean Energy Institute (CEI) at the University of Washington
- Graduate opportunities at CEI: CEI supports a variety of fellowship and training opportunities that enhance career flexibility for graduate students.
College of Engineering
- Bioengineering Program and Technology Commercialization: The Master of Applied Bioengineering trains students to apply engineering design to address today’s clinical challenges and fulfill the market-based demands of industry and medicine for biotechnology.
College of the Environment
- EarthLab: Accelerates and focuses UW expertise to address large-scale environmental challenges, making a positive impact on people’s lives and livelihoods.
eScience Institute
- As the hub of data-intensive research and discovery on campus, this program leads a community of innovators in the techniques, technologies, and best practices of data science and the fields that depend on them.
Evans School of Public Policy & Governance
- Accelerating Social Transformation: A unique, immersive experience for mid-career professionals that will reinvigorate and prepare participants to innovate and create social impact in support of the most vulnerable people in our society.
Foster School of Business
- Master of Science in Entrepreneurship: This program follows the same path as a startup—with a curriculum designed to guide students through a real-world entrepreneurial process used to develop new companies.
- Entrepreneurship Certificate: The Buerk Center’s certificate in entrepreneurship prepares University of Washington graduate and PhD students for the world of startups and new technology enterprises.
Global Innovation Exchange (GIX)
- The mission of GIX is to build the talent that leverages emerging technologies in new and impactful ways. GIX has assembled a network of leading universities and cross-sector partners committed to experiential learning and technological innovation in a global context. They provide project-based graduate degree programs and a growing array of innovation experiences for executives and professionals.
Information School
- iSchool Capstone Program: The culmination of students’ learning experience, iSchool capstone projects distill the knowledge and skills acquired in academic courses and apply them to a real-world project.
UW Medicine
UW Medicine is a premier healthcare system that integrates comprehensive patient care and nationally ranked research for over 300 medical clinics. Unlike other local health systems, UW Medicine provides the highest caliber clinical care because they directly connect that care with a top-rated medical school and an internationally recognized research organization.
The mission of the Brotman Baty Institute is to take advantage of Seattle’s unique ecosystem and collaborative culture to have a transformative impact on biomedical research and patient outcomes through the development and application of precision approaches to healthcare.
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Natural proteins evolved over millions of years to solve the most complex challenges on Earth. But we face new and pressing challenges today. The Institute for Protein Design is designing a new world of proteins to address 21st century challenges in medicine, energy, and technology.
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The mission of the Center for Dialysis Innovation is to improve the health and well-being of people receiving dialysis treatment. The vision is that future dialysis therapy will be complication free, and restorative of kidney health.
Learn MoreIncubators and accelerators
Helping early-stage startups grow their business. Incubators support startups in the beginning stages of building their company by providing resources, access to mentors, and interactions with other entrepreneurs while accelerators focus on scaling existing businesses. UW has offerings in both types of programs.
Jones + Foster Accelerator
The startup process is messy and unpredictable—licensing intellectual property, producing a manufacture-ready prototype, lining up customers, raising money—all are critical and daunting. The Jones + Foster Accelerator program helps early-stage, student-led companies through those decisive first six months.
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CoMotion Labs
CoMotion Labs provides a multi-industry incubation environment for early-stage startups with a focus on UW spinoffs. From critical infrastructure to just-in-time learning, mentoring, and networking, CoMotion Labs nurtures company growth and enables success.
Learn MoreInternships and fellowships
Enabling students to apply knowledge from the classroom to real-world experience — and they make students more competitive in the job market. UW offers a variety of innovation- and entrepreneur-focused internships and fellowships to both undergrads and grads.
CoMotion Internships & Fellowships
Undergraduate students
CoMotion Mary Gates Innovation Scholars: This program funds full-time summer internships in faculty-led startup initiatives. Selected scholars contribute to the development of these companies, gaining experience in and exposure to various aspects of building a new product or business.
Graduate students
CoMotion Commercialization Fellows Program:
This one-year fellowship offers entrepreneurial UW grad students and postdocs time to further explore the commercialization potential of the innovations they helped create.
Other programs
WRF/ITHS Summer Commercialization Fellowship | Innovation Development Intern Program | Legal Interns & Externs
Buerk Center Internships & Fellowships for Graduate Students
The Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship offers various internship and fellowship opportunities for graduate students to gain real-world experience while pursuing their degree.
Find a mentor
Mentors can mean the difference between success and failure for early-stage entrepreneurs. They offer business development knowledge, pitch coaching, networking connections, and subject matter expertise. UW offers these connections to its students and entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurial Law Clinic
The Entrepreneurial Law Clinic (ELC) is an innovative clinic serving entrepreneurs throughout the Pacific Northwest. It teams law and business students with pro bono attorneys and business advisors to provide critical early-stage legal and business counseling.
Learn MoreUW StartupTree Community
UW student entrepreneurs use StartupTree to access the resources they need and to discover, connect, and collaborate with co-founders, team members, and mentors on their journey.
Learn MoreEvents
Interested in networking events, competitions & hackathons, and symposiums? Learn more about our events