Entrepreneurship

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Overview of ICASIT's Work in Entrepreneurship
ICASIT Closely Linked to GMU's Entrepreneurship Projects
ICASIT's Role in $2 Million Grant to Help Virginia IT Companies
Examples of ICASIT Activities with Local Companies
ICASIT's Knowledge Management Projects

Entrepreneurship and ICASIT --
Working with Dozens of Local Companies

Overview

ICASIT has active relationships with business consortia, university researchers, and individual corporations and organizations. Consortia have included such organizations as Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), the Entrepreneurship Center at George Mason University (GMU), and the Century Club of GMU. ICASIT/university linkages include activities with Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, the University of North Carolina’s Carolina Population Center, and Virginia’s Internet Technology Innovation Center (Internet TIC). ICASIT’s collaborative efforts with industry have involved a variety of activities with Mobil, American Management Systems, VSE, Computer Sciences Corporation, Mitre and SAIC, as well as over a half dozen Internet startup companies. ICASIT's Knowledge Management Roundtable, funded with a generous grant from CIT, now involves over 140 firms in the region.

ICASIT Closely Linked to GMU’s Entrepreneurship Projects

ICASIT actively partners with GMU’s Entrepreneurship Initiative and the Entrepreneurship Center, led by Dr. Roger Stough, which assists in locating and helping Internet-based startup firms (examples below). As a member of the Century Club of GMU, ICASIT participates in a range of the Century Club’s activities, including helping startup firms represented at the popular quarterly Grubstake Breakfasts.

ICASIT’s Role in $2 Million Grant to Help Virginia IT Companies

ICASIT partnered with research centers at three other Virginia Universities to win a five year $2 million grant aimed at helping Internet-based companies in Virginia. The CIT-funded Internet Technology Innovation Center (Internet TIC), a partnership of research groups at the University of Virginia, Christopher Newport University, Virginia Tech, and George Mason University, seeks to advance the Internet enterprise in Virginia. In September 1999, Internet TIC sponsored the First Virginia Internet Technology Week to present the latest Internet technology developments and policies, provide a range of professional development seminars, and describe the next-generation web network, Internet2. Professor Steve Ruth, ICASIT director and associate director of Internet TIC, presented two professional development seminars, Knowledge Management and Teaming in Cyberspace, at the Virginia Internet Technology Week. The Second Internet Technology Week took place in Williamsburg in September 2000 with nearly forty different presentations from experts on Electronic Commerce and related fields.

Examples of ICASIT Activities with Local Companies

Mobil Oil’s Director of Global Security (GS) contacted ICASIT concerning possible assistance for several technology projects. As a result, ICASIT worked with Mobil GS to redesign their intranet, develop a global list of Internet-based newspapers in selected countries, and create a Lotus Notes database to keep better track of geographically dispersed employees. One of these products, also available at the ICASIT web site, contains links to more than 100 internet-based newspapers around the world. Mobil intends to continue similar work with ICASIT and other appropriate Internet TIC centers.

Expert Decision Systems (EXDS) has developed decision support and knowledge-based software support for crisis management, and has a lab in the engineering school at GMU in Virginia. EXDS’ NxtGenesis provides for knowledge management and use of decision frames with dynamic organizational structuring of resources (people, data, models, etc.) for rapid deployment and adaptation to crisis situations. ICASIT provided support to a project that delivered a web-based pesticide information package to the Department of Agriculture.

Planned Community Networks (PCN), an emerging Internet startup corporation, intended to serve the growing needs of broad-bandwidth communities by offering new home owners a wide array of voice/data/video services. PCN worked with both ICASIT and the Internet Multimedia Center at GMU. ICASIT has assisted in the development of a PCN web presence and helped PCN obtain venture capital.

Artisannet, another Internet startup, provided art buying services from individual artists as well as museums and galleries. ICASIT is assisted Artisannet by providing technical assistance with the Artisannet web site and helping locate venture capital. In a letter to ICASIT director, Artisannet CEO Henry Azclar stated that ICASIT assistance was worth $100,000 in benefits to the company.

Unanet Technologies, developer of the Unanet Product Suite, seeks to help IT and consulting organizations improve margins of their own product and service lines through the use of web-based software products. ICASIT is assisting Unanet Technologies in improving their web site, and introducing them to Internet TIC partners who can help them examine possibilities for additional venture capital. The Unanet CEO expects to continue collaboration with Internet TIC and has stated that the Internet TIC concept presents the type of broad-based support that companies such as hers require in the current competitive business environment.

Audiopoint is developing a web-based product that would enable cell phone users to browse the Internet for audio links. Individually tailored voice commands would allow updates on stocks, weather, travel, news, or other data of importance to the subscriber. Audiopoint’s CEO approached ICASIT for help with the business plan and has also requested technical help from Internet TIC.

ICASIT’s Knowledge Management Business Round Tables—140 Companies Involved

ICASIT has a significant presence in the regional Knowledge Management community based upon a robust university-based Knowledge Management (KM) web site, continuing graduate level courses, and ongoing activities with private corporations. With financial and administrative support from CIT, ICASIT initiated a series of Knowledge Management Roundtables to broaden the application and advance the effectiveness of KM practice in regional organizations. Fourteen Roundtables have been convened since September of 1999. The Roundtable organization is seeking ways to expand its reach and effectiveness and over seventy companies now participate in the activity.