Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Learn By Doing. Build Skills. Make An Impact.
Funded Summer Opportunities
Application Period is January 22 – February 23 at 5 p.m. All interests, majors, and experience levels are welcome to explore our 10-week programs running from Tuesday, May 26 – Friday, July 31, 2026.
Final Drop In Office Hours for Funded Summer Programs
Friday, February 20: 2 – 4 p.m. LIB Idea Lab
Do you have an idea and need a place to start? Bring your curiosity and your questions. E&I will provide the tools and practices to move you to action! Drop in at the Idea Lab and meet with E&I staff to learn more about funded programs: MacStartups – Launch, test, and grow you own idea through hands-on experimentation and mentorship. MacNest – Get paid to work with an organization and build real-world skills through a meaningful internship. Live It Fund – Receive funding to explore, test, or prototype an idea you care about. Zia & Priti Fund for Innovation and Impact – Support projects that advance social change, equity, and community impact around the world. All interests, majors, and experience levels are welcome!
Entrepreneurship & Innovation Events
Macathon is Macalester’s overnight innovation and creativity contest.
Live It Fund J-Term supports students with hands-on experience to pilot innovative solutions to complex problems.
Macathon is the the 24-hour competition where student teams work to develop and present a product or service that will help solve a real-world problem.
MacNest is a 10-week summer internship program with early stage Twin Cities startups.
Program students demonstrate their project outcomes and the impact of storytelling.
The Idea Lab is the on campus creativity and community building space.
MacStartups students entrepreneurs bring their concept to reality during a 10-week summer program.
Mission
We empower Macalester students to transform bold ideas into action through practical skills, resources, and collaboration. Together, we enhance the liberal arts experience with playful, purposeful, and real-world learning.
Vision
We envision a Macalester where every student sees themselves as a curious and confident innovator, ready to navigate uncertainty and shape a more just and sustainable future.
Values
Our Team values are: Trust & Respect, Whole Person First, Vision and Curiosity, Play & Humor, Teamwork & Initiative, and Order & Structure.
News & Highlights
Celebrating Momentum & Imagination
As we begin 2026, we’re excited to celebrate the Macalester’s Entrepreneurship & Innovation community
Welcome New Director
Allan Martinez Venegas ’14 joins the Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovation as new Director.
Empowering Entrepreneurs
Basir Talayee ’25 awarded Live It Fund and Zia and Priti Fund for Innovation and Impact supports “life-changing” opportunites.
How It Started, How It’s Going
“At Macalester, students are encouraged to pair their entrepreneurial drive with a grounding in the liberal arts to build skills that will benefit them long beyond their time on campus.”
IDEAS TO ACTION
Entrepreneurship is not just studied at Macalester, it is lived. Driven by the college’s mission, the entrepreneurial spirit has been a part of Macalester’s culture from the very beginning. The urban environment of the Twin Cities provides an incredible ecosystem for students to experience entrepreneurship first hand and alumni across the world provide significant entrepreneurial opportunities for students.
At its core, entrepreneurship at Macalester inspires students to put their ideas into action. It gives students the courage to follow their dreams, the creativity to solve problems, and the resilience, grit, and hope necessary to create lasting change.
HOW IT BEGAN
In 2014, the college produced its strategic plan Thrive, which made Entrepreneurship a key strategic priority for the future. It called for the college to “draw upon the energy of our students, the success of our alumni, and the vibrancy of our urban location to make entrepreneurship, including social, commercial, and artistic, an area of distinctive strength at Macalester.”
Students have many opportunities in entrepreneurship, and often these opportunities were created by entrepreneurial students themselves. They include coursework, internship opportunities, seed funding, a 10-week accelerator program, community project funding, and hackathons. In 2017, the college unveiled the Idea Lab, a 7000 sq ft remodel of the library to open up a collaborative and innovative space for students, faculty, and staff. Additionally, students embed themselves in the Twin Cities startup community and continue to find new ways to innovate and create their own entrepreneurial experiences.
Macalester does not encompass a narrow definition of entrepreneurship but understands the broad tools of entrepreneurship to be powerful catalysts for change. “Entrepreneurship broadly understood means the bringing of creative thinking and a willingness to take risks to the formation of new businesses, the revitalization of existing businesses, and the mitigation of social problems. More fundamentally, in the words of a successful Macalester alumnus, it means having the courage, confidence, and necessary skills to follow the path to your dream.” -Thrive Strategic Plan.