Returning from Spring Break, the Chapel Hill community will have the opportunity to talk with members of President Barack Obama’s National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Chancellor Holden Thorp, a member of the council and major proponent of campus innovation, said the University was honored to be selected as the host for the council’s first national public forum outside of Washington, D.C.
“This is an excellent opportunity for people who are interested in innovation and entrepreneurship to observe and participate in discussions that will help shape our council’s recommendations on national policy,” Thorp said in a press release Thursday.
The 24-member council includes presidents, CEOs and founders of large companies, as well as leaders in higher education. Several of them will speak at the forum.
The forum will be held at Kenan-Flagler Business School on March 15. Tickets to the event are free but must be picked up at the Carolina Union Box Office by March 14.
Joseph DeSimone, a chemistry professor who also teaches a class in entrepreneurship, said Thorp’s experience guides his leadership.
“There’s nothing better for leaders who speak from experience, who have domain expertise, who can speak convincingly and confidently, like breathing,” DeSimone said.
“And entrepreneurship is like breathing for Holden. He doesn’t have to learn about this topic. He does this, and it’s important for leaders with that kind of domain expertise to be involved.”
Buck Goldstein, a senior lecturer in economics, joined Thorp in co-writing “Engines of Innovation: The Entrepreneurial University in the Twenty-First Century,” a book that explores a central theme of the meeting: solving social problems through innovation.
