Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship

We are a dedicated institute for student entrepreneurs across campus and beyond. We aim to maximize your success by fostering your entrepreneurial mindset, promote inter-disciplinary collaboration and provide support for the creation and development of your new ventures. Jumpstart your ideas and get involved today!

Tune in for excitement!

Passion. Potential. Pitches. Don't miss any of the 2025 New Venture Challenge excitement.

Tune in Friday, April 11 at 1 p.m. for great ideas and fierce competition. Then, join the judges, mentors, spectators and teams as they see who is going home with thousands of dollars in venture financing. The awards broadcast begins at 6:30 p.m. and one team will walk away as the overall best venture.

2025 NVC Competition Live Stream

2025 NVC Awards Live Stream

Start your entrepreneurial journey

Central Michigan University’s College of Business Administration is the home of the Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship and the first Department of Entrepreneurship in the state of Michigan. We are a student-centric hub where experiential, curricular, and external entrepreneurial opportunities intersect.

Our mission is to maximize student success by fostering a campus-wide entrepreneurial mindset that promotes inter-disciplinary collaboration and the creation of new ventures.

We aim to create innovative programming, boost cross-campus and ecosystem collaboration and provide a comprehensive mentoring program.

Our institute provides extracurricular opportunities and is open to all undergraduate and graduate CMU students.

Student opportunities

Meet experienced alumni, faculty, entrepreneurs, investors, and other business and political leaders.
Learn practical skills, innovative thinking, and connect with mentors and entrepreneurial resources.
Attend skill-building workshops and compete in pitch competitions and Hackathons.
Take part in special scholarship programs and travel experiences.
Pitch your venture at our signature New Venture Challenge event and compete for up to $20,000 in cash awards.

Find your path

Are you interested in becoming an entrepreneur?

Every journey is unique. Explore the opportunities that interest you.

A student standing with a faculty member holding big winning checks from the New Venture Challenge 2024.

Start up

Build up your venture idea.

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A student smiling and standing in front of his venture display at the 2024 New Venture Challenge.

Family business

Explore the Alternative Entrepreneurial Pathways category at NVC.

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A close-up of the Prusa i3 MK3 printer in the entrepreneurship makerspace, the IDEA Den in Grawn Hall 166.

Product and prototype design

Create and patent your ideas.

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Innovation

Explore your ideas and build your skills.

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New drone lab takes flight at CMU

by Sanjna Jassi

Central Michigan University launches Michigan’s only multidisciplinary Drone Lab.

As he watched a small aerial drone automatically circle a tree, hover in gusty winds and even follow wherever he walked, Justin Lyle couldn't contain his delight.

The senior from Dowagiac, Michigan, studying broadcast and cinematic arts in the Honors Program, is among the first of many students benefiting from Michigan's only multidisciplinary Drone Lab, a new addition to Central Michigan University.

Lyle, who sees creative videography in his future, said a CMU course this summer placed him at the controls of a remote-operated aircraft for the first time. He now plans to pursue FAA drone pilot certification.

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"I definitely fell in love," he said. "Being able to say I'm a licensed pilot will open a lot of doors."

Drones represent huge and growing career opportunities. According to Fortune Business Insights, the worldwide commercial market for drones is growing by 25% a year, from $1.6 billion in 2019 to an expected $8.5 billion by 2027. Drones are used in agriculture, surveying, construction, warehousing, logistics, the arts and more.

The CMU lab currently consists of two one-credit courses offered through the School of Broadcast and Cinematic Arts. Students in the initial Drone Lab courses this summer plan careers in fields including broadcasting, filmmaking, meteorology and business.

The lab is a program, not a place — because the hands-on learning involved in flying them can take place almost anywhere, indoors and out.

"The 'facility' is the drones and wherever we bring the drones," said BCA Chair Heather Polinsky. She planned the lab along with CMU alum Zach Huffman, founder of Atlanta-based drone service provider Hyvion, as part of a grant proposal for the CMU President's and Provost's Fund for Program Innovation and Excellence.

The grant purchased a fleet of 35 drones for the lab, ranging from beginner models to a $10,000 craft that Huffman said exceeds industry standards.

CMU and Hyvion are partners in the project. Huffman taught the initial courses, and students who complete the program will have the opportunity to join Hyvion as interns or as part of the company's nationwide network of 200-300 drone pilots.

The first Drone Lab course prepares students for Federal Aviation Administration drone pilot certification. Students in the second course learn hands-on how to program and fly drones. The next round of classes will be offered in spring 2022. BCA faculty and staff will operate the CMU Drone Lab and teach future courses.

Reflecting the almost limitless uses for drone technology, three CMU colleges — Arts and Media, Business Administration, and Science and Engineering — are involved in the project.