Patrick Bultema is in the forefront of the effort to bring these ideas to fruition in down-to-earth ways.<\/p>\n
The executive director of CC\u2019s Innovation Institute and The Big Idea competition was hired for his savvy with startups \u2014 he\u2019s mentored more than 50 \u2014 and his devotion to the liberal arts, his imagination, and his collaborative spirit.<\/p>\n
In late June, Bultema talked about CC\u2019s plans in the Innovation Institute\u2019s incubator, the Carriage House behind Morreale House.<\/p>\n
First, the institute will install a governing board, comprised of faculty, staff, and alumni, to support students as they take their ideas to the next step.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to give students experience in innovation so they\u2019re better prepared to take their liberal arts education and translate that into exciting career pursuits. It really is consistent with the spirit of liberal arts education because it\u2019s all about creativity. It\u2019s about new ideas, inventions, creativity, a vision for how you see the future,\u201d Bultema said.<\/p>\n
The building will house work space for student teams, project storage, and meeting space. It will host \u201cinnovators in residence,\u201d from alumni or locals who give a few months of their time to full-timers in it for the long haul. He\u2019ll welcome people from the public and private sectors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe things you do to be successful, whether you\u2019re a nonprofit or a for-profit, are the same; you just keep score differently\u201d in lives improved or dollars earned.<\/p>\n
Bultema will reach out to alumni and the community for ideas for the institute. In cooperation with CC\u2019s Alumni Office, he\u2019ll travel the country to meet with alumni.<\/p>\n
He also will act as the point person for a collaboration between CC and the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak Community College, and the Air Force Academy to create a Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurialism in the community. This will help CC innovators find and work with, for instance, the electrical engineer they need for their project.<\/p>\n
Bultema is seeking ways to connect more CC students with the school\u2019s existing programs: State of the Rockies, Public Interest Fellowship Program, Venture Grants, and Global Sustainability Summer Internships.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have any designs or notions that we\u2019re going to somehow change those programs, but let\u2019s just figure out how we can create as much synergy and collaboration between them. So I\u2019ve been pitching, for example, there\u2019s some startup things that have relevance for State of the Rockies, so students can be involved and do research projects on State of the Rockies, and say, \u2018oh, there\u2019s a startup idea that comes out of that,\u2019 and then do a Venture Grant to pursue that. There\u2019s a natural synergy between all those programs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The scuttlebutt about Colorado Springs is that it\u2019s not the most hospitable place for young people with fresh ideas.<\/p>\n
CC\u2019s Career Center surveyed this year\u2019s graduates about their post-graduation plans, and 460 responded. Of those, 52 gave Colorado Springs as their primary place of residence. When asked about where they plan to live, 46.8 percent of the total respondents said Colorado. California is second with 8.2 percent, followed by New York, Washington, D.C., and Illinois, then 34 other states and Puerto Rico. Twenty-one graduates are heading to 18 foreign countries, predominantly in Asia and Africa.<\/p>\n
Students have told Bultema that they love Colorado Springs and would love to make a difference in the community, but can\u2019t always find employment. His mission is to help them look at what is and see what could be, to transform their passions into opportunities \u2014 here or elsewhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really think that we\u2019re going to create a character of engagement with the community that\u2019s going to be beneficial to the community and beneficial to CC. Part of my passion, part of my vision is: Whatever the percentage is, if it\u2019s 55 percent or 45 percent, the percentage of CC students that would like to stay here, that we help nurture and create the kind of community that gives them that option. We\u2019re not here to evangelize Colorado Springs, but this is the place where we are, and this is the place our students want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
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