Center for Business Ingenuity

Located at 900 State Street in the heart of Erie's central business district, Gannon University's Center for Business Ingenuity (CBI) is a 21^st century laboratory for the future of business and entrepreneurship in northwest Pennsylvania.

This facility creates synergy by incorporating the Dahlkemper School of Business (DSB), with Gannon's Erie Technology Incubator (ETI), Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and NWPA Innovation Beehive Network.

Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

By bringing together these three entities dedicated to the advancement of business techniques and processes, CBI encourages an unprecedented level of collaboration between business students and budding entrepreneurs, seasoned business faculty and consultants in a facility that looks and feels like a major corporate headquarters. This type of collaboration further enhances the delivery of services to entrepreneurs in the community.

Gannon's CBI promotes a synergistic culture as businesses, faculty and students mix and share ideas in an ecosystem where faculty and student-led businesses can flourish and expand, offering services and resources that include:

• DSB serves as a resource for student projects, consulting, interns and employees
• ETI incubates and mentors entrepreneurial businesses
• SBDC provides consulting to help start a new business or expand an existing business
• The NWPA Innovation Beehive Network assists in all aspects of business development with expertise from five local institutions

Resources for Students

In the Business Information Systems Laboratory (BISL), students in Gannon University's undergraduate and graduate business programs have a state-of-the-art environment for data integration, business simulation, visualization and team operation for students that will include:

• Wide broadband internet access for the movement of large datasets
• Flexible display systems for information and integrative displays
• Accessibility using most devices

BISL development was partially funded by a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. When combined with SAP^® software applications available through Gannon's participation in the SAP University Alliances program, students will have a suite of advanced tools for analysis, simulation and decision making.

Resources for Entrepreneurs and the Community

In the CBI, expert faculty engage in focused research in many areas of business, including economics, finance, sports management and marketing and the teaching of business. Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity offers business students access to area and regional business leaders and club leadership opportunities. A number of professors routinely incorporate service learning into their course activities, while the Entrepreneurs' Club gives students the opportunity to learn more about starting businesses and interacting with new and growing companies.

The staff of professional experts at ETI, SBDC and Gannon's node of the NWPA Innovation Beehive Network are invaluable resources for businesses at all stages. Many of the companies served by ETI are located in the building, thus providing a critical mass of entrepreneurial thinking and energy. These entities provide training, classes and other learning support to new and existing area businesses.