Merrimack Valley Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship
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The Deshpande Foundation recently launched a new initiative called the Merrimack Valley Sandbox. It is based upon the success of the Foundation’s initiatives at MIT and in Northwest Karnataka, India. The Merrimack Valley Sandbox Initiative aims to strenghten an ecosystem that promotes entrepreneurship and leadership in the cities of Lowell and Lawrence in Massachusetts.
The Sandbox will operate out of the new Merrimack Valley Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at UMass Lowell, which will coordinate activities between the university and colleges, local non-profits and the business community. The Sandbox grows out of a partnership of colleges in the region: UMass Lowell, Merrimack College, Middlesex Community College, Northern Essex Community College, and Cambridge College.
The Sandbox ecosystem builds leadership and entrepreneurship in people and organizations, the connections and confidence to:
- Innovate
- Turn ideas into action
- Network
- Collaborate and build teams
- Embrace social responsibility
- Create new ventures in any business form
- Job opportunities
- Social conditions
- Civic tone
- Access to resources
For the MVS all entrepreneurs are leaders. In our programs, we distinguish the two concepts by including more focus on business planning in our entrepreneurship activities, and more focus on social responsibility in our leadership activities.