Innovation for Entrepreneurship

 

Robert Macy brings leadership and academic expertise to his role leading the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

 

By Micaela Myers

 

Last year, Robert Macy joined the University of Wyoming as director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI). The center aims to propel UW to the forefront of entrepreneurship and innovation. It leverages coordination, collaboration, promotion and support to nurture an entrepreneurial mindset and to enhance the university’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. 

“Robert Macy brings a comprehensive blend of academic, venture capital and creative industry experience to UW,” UW President Ed Seidel says. “His expertise is key to the success of the CEI and supports our mission to connect theory with practice and enhance innovation and entrepreneurial endeavors that serve the state of Wyoming.”

A Seattle native, Macy pursued law school at the University of Oregon with the goal of helping entrepreneurs with their startup ventures.

 

He then added an MBA and a Ph.D. In addition to being an entrepreneur and angel investor himself, Macy worked as an innovation and entrepreneurship director and professor at Pennsylvania State University, served as the Bill and Sharon Sheriff Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship at New Mexico State University and, most recently, served as an associate professor of entertainment management at the University of Central Florida. 

When Macy was an undergraduate in the 1990s, he started a multiplayer online role-playing game company, which he and his partner later sold. It was that experience that led Macy into academia.

“My partners and I did well, but mainly it was a lot of luck,” Macy says. “It would have been nice to have had some mentoring and programs, which didn’t exist as much back then. I really like working with students.”

Now, Macy gives UW students the resources he once hoped for. The CEI supports numerous initiatives, including the University Student Entrepreneurship Club, NSF I-Corps for startups, Technology Commercialization Fellowship Program, University Venture Capital Fund, Venture MBA Program Instruction, Engineering Senior Design Assistance, CEI Faculty Fellows Program, Innovation Consulting Course and the Master Craftsman Program. 

“We’re currently working on taking entrepreneurship university-wide and reaching colleges that we haven’t been able to assist yet as well as reaching out to community more,” Macy says. 

One of the CEI’s newest programs for students is the Engineering Senior Design Assistance Fund. Companies and organizations contact UW with products or projects they need help with, and UW engineering seniors form teams and gain hands-on experience. However, sometimes materials are costly, and the new fund will take these projects to the next level. 

Macy also wants to reach entrepreneurs in the creative economy, which the Master Craftsman Program will help achieve. The program offers students real-world experience creating functional art to help secure careers in industries such as manufacturing, design and fabrication. 

Because UW doesn’t offer a film or television program, Macy — himself a film producer — has brought in guest speakers on these topics. 

“I want to help students see that there’s more to the film industry than acting,” he says. “There’s a business side, and those positions tend to be easier to get into and pay better. For example, line producers are always in demand. I want more opportunities for our students who are not as technologically or business-minded.”

Macy also wants to offer hands-on learning opportunities to UW College of Law students. There are many legal aspects to starting a business, and law students are key to the Technology Commercialization Fellowship Program, which hires UW graduate and honors students to look through the university’s patent portfolio and help move those ideas to commercialization.

Macy also works closely with IMPACT 307, which offers business incubators in Laramie and Casper. 

“We are working to integrate our various programming rather than having stand-alone offerings,” he says. “This not only cuts costs but also provides better end-to-end services. 
We want to cover everything from brand-new student ideas through nurturing businesses in academic and extracurricular programs and on into the incubators.”

Macy’s wife, Marisa Macy, serves as the John P. Ellbogen Foundation Professor of Early Childhood Education. Together with their daughter, they enjoy all the outdoor recreation Wyoming has to offer. “From winter sports to hiking, there’s more than any human being could ever possibly do,” Macy says.