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Walter's entrepreneurial journey began in high school with the launch of an electric landscaping company, Electric Lawn. This initial experience served as a crash course in business, from building a brand to managing operations in Austin's intense summer heat.

“It is exciting to see the continued growth of the Sustainability Hackathon,” said Stan Hickory, director of ����ֱ�� Boulder’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative. “We have students coming together from across the campus and multiple universities to develop solutions to real sustainability problems.”

Fast Company and Inc. recently published their first list of Ignition Schools—the top 50 institutions that lead in entrepreneurship and innovation—and ����ֱ�� Boulder made the list, thanks to the dynamic teaching and research that shapes trailblazing entrepreneurs long before they graduate.

In a world increasingly focused on sustainability, the construction industry is seeking innovative solutions to reduce its carbon footprint. Enter Carbon-Storing Hempcrete, a groundbreaking biocomposite building material that actively sequesters CO2.

The material—a synthetic gel-derived material known as aerogel—is around 97-99% transparent, compared to glass, which is around 92% transparent. The aerogel Smalyukh and his team have created can be added to windows to boost thermal insulation, increasing the overall efficiency of a building.

The 2024 New Venture Challenge (NVC) culminated in a final showcase on April 17 in front of a live audience cheering on the University of ����ֱ�� Boulder’s next big innovations. At an event filled with great ideas and even greater entrepreneurial spirit, five teams competed for $165,000 in prize money.

The High School New Venture Challenge (HSNVC) at ����ֱ�� Boulder and Business Bound at ����ֱ�� Denver connect high school students with their communities and cultivate entrepreneurial mindsets that span beyond basic business finance, fostering young innovators across ����ֱ��.

In November, ����ֱ�� Boulder’s Environmental Data Science Innovation & Inclusion Lab (ESIIL) hosted its first-ever virtual hackathon. Working in teams, 45 participants from around the world used environmental data science and AI to create innovative solutions, such as an app to track water quality by neighborhood.

The board will integrate industry leaders poised to support and help shape the university's future of innovation and entrepreneurship. The initiative aims to align and optimize resources across campus to reach across traditional silos, facilitate collaboration, fuel achievement and build ����ֱ�� Boulder’s reputation.

“Entrepreneurs create value by addressing unmet needs in the marketplace,” says Jeffrey Nytch, professor of composition and director of ����ֱ�� Boulder's Entrepreneurship Center for Music. “In the arts, that means understanding the audience you’re trying to reach and creating works that speak to them in meaningful ways.”