Business Innovation Expo Pairs UW Students with Real

University of Wyoming College of Business faculty and students recently participated in the third semiannual Business Innovation Expo.

Hosted by the Department of Management and Marketing, the Business Innovation Expo aims to improve the quality of business education through "learn by doing" opportunities.

The event featured 21 College of Business student teams presenting large and small innovative company projects to increase profitability. Projects ranged from in-depth technical support to aiding startups in problem-solving. Student-led company projects also displayed better, more efficient business processes through their partnerships with College of Business faculty and students.

“By tapping into the innovative power of business faculty and students, participating companies walked away from the event with a number of ideas to improve their businesses,” says Corey Billington, College of Business professor of practice in entrepreneurship. “This is a classic win-win: Students get a better education, and companies get better profitability.”

The Business Innovation Expo sessions included one-on-one meetings between participating companies and faculty to discuss business process problems as targets of potential engagement and for an informal mixer in the evening.

“Our innovative collaborations have resulted in accelerated solutions to fundamental problems many companies such as Black Hills, Health Reach and Ivinson Memorial Hospital face,” says Barry Brewer, associate professor of decision science.

Other sessions included successful student company project presentations, faculty research presentations, faculty-led innovation sessions and innovation-driven networking.

For more information about the Business Innovation Expo, email skrula@uwyo.edu.