The Center for Innovation at the University of North Dakota was among the first entrepreneur outreach centers in the nation when formed in 1984.  The Center provides assistance to innovators, entrepreneurs, and researchers to launch new ventures, commercialize new technologies, and secure access to capital from private and public sources.

The Center manages two tech incubators in the UND Tech Park, provides SBIR outreach to the state's tech community, and has formed three angel networks in Grand Forks, Fargo and Bismarck.  It is also home to the only student managed venture fund in the nation where students make the actual investment decisions, Dakota Venture Group. The Center has fostered over 400 startups, which employs more than 4000 people and have attracted over $110 M in investment.  The Center was named a Center for Excellence in Economic Development in 2003 while securing funds for the $4.2 M Ina Mae Rude Entrepreneur Center.

The Center for Innovation's vision and mission is to maintain national leadership in entrepreneur outreach and education, and become the leader in tech entrepreneurship in rural America. Our goals are to:

• Grow entrepreneur ventures
• Foster Innovation
• Secure access to entrepreneur capital
• Provide superb entrepreneur infrastructure
• Provide world-class entrepreneur education with the UND Entrepreneur Program
  

Center Signature Successes

The Center has received five (5) National Awards for Excellence in innovation & entrepreneurship.

The Center supports the UND Entrepreneurship program which is ranked #13 on the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine's "Best Schools for Entrepreneurs" listing out of 900 entrepreneur programs nationwide. UND's ranking of #13 is ahead of universities including Syracuse University, University of Notre Dame, and the University of Washington.

The Center has been designated a "Soft Landing International Incubator", one of only eight in the world by National Business Incubator Association. The Center received this recognition because it has proven itself as a business incubator that helps companies expand internationally.

The $4.2 M Ina Mae Rude Entrepreneur Center was the first North Dakota Center for Excellence in Economic Development, providing increased opportunities for the state’s entrepreneurs. Diving board entrepreneur Ray Rude provided a $1.75 M gift to construct the incubator, and aerospace entrepreneur James Ray provided $500,000 to construct and furnish the Idea Lab and to develop the entrepreneur community.

UND was the first in the Great Plains to host a tech incubator with the building of the $4 M Skalicky Tech Incubator in 1996 in the UND Tech Park. We are one of just 200 universities nationwide with a tech incubator.  UND is of one of less than 20 campus to host two tech incubators.

The Center has achieved 22 years of self-sufficiency securing $25.3 M in entrepreneur infrastructure, services, outreach and endowments (very rare in economic development).  In the spirit of entrepreneurship, the Center pays its own way through fees for services, contracts, incubator rents and grants from foundations, entrepreneurs and government sources.

Over 160 UND students are enrolled in entrepreneur classes including 47 entrepreneur majors, making Entrepreneurship the fastest growing major on campus.

UND Center for Innovation Foundation

The Center for Innovation Foundation serves as a link between successful entrepreneurs and the Center for Innovation and its two tech incubators (Skalicky Tech Incubator and the Ina Mae Rude Entrepreneur Center) in the UND Tech Park to encourage and foster entrepreneur initiatives and new ventures in the region.

Foundation trustees are:

Chair:  Dale F. Morrison is a founding partner of TriPointe Capital Partners, a middle market private equity firm based in New York City. Prior to launching TriPointe Capital Partners, Morrison was for seven years CEO of McCain Foods, an international leader in the frozen food industry, employing 20,000 people and operating 53 production facilities in 14 countries on six continents. McCain products are sold in 130 countries around the globe. Prior to leading McCain Foods, Morrison was an Executive at Fenway Partners, a middle market buyout firm based in New York City, where he worked on a number of assignments in the consumer products space. Morrison was previously President and CEO of Campbell Soup Company and began his career at General Foods and PepsiCo, where he had significant international responsibilities. Morrison is a board member of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. and InterContinental Hotels Group. Originally from Milton, North Dakota, Morrison earned a business degree from the UND in 1971. He served on the UND Foundation board from 1995 to 2004 serving as the Foundation President.  He is currently a member of the National Campaign Steering Committee to raise $300 M for UND. He has been an active alumnus with his fraternity, Kappa Sigma. 

Vice Chair: Randy Newman is Chair, CEO and President of Alerus Financial Corp. of Grand Forks. He has been Chairman of Alerus Financial Bank since 1993. Newman served as the Chair of Board of Directors of the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) in Des Moines from 2004 to 2008. Alerus Financial Corporation is one of the largest and oldest independent banking and financial services companies in the upper Midwest with total bank assets exceeding $1.1 billion, $8 billion in customer assets under management and administration, and $350 million in brokerage assets. Alerus now operates 18 locations in the North Dakota's Red River Valley, Minnesota's Twin Cities and the Phoenix area. Newman was named by NorthWestern Financial Review as the 2008 Banker of the Year. He received his BSBA in 1975 and his MBA in 1979 from UND.

Treasurer:  James C. Ray is president of the Aerospace Capital Group and president of the Ray Foundation of Naples, Florida.  Ray has invested in more than 300 high tech aerospace and computer ventures, including Compaq Computer. Ray has funded many innovative ventures at an early research stage.  He also is the lead investor in the Hilton Garden Inn located adjacent to the UND Center for Innovation. Since the late 1960s, Ray has served as president of the Ray Foundation, which distributed millions of dollars in royalties earned from the development and sale of a cattle vaccine to a variety of programs especially in aerospace and entrepreneurship. The Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation awarded Mr. Ray the 2012 Lindbergh Spirit Award, which is given every five years for pioneering achievements in an aviation career with the spirit and character that represents the best of this nation.  Ray has contributed more than $12 million to UND, making him one of UND’s greatest benefactors. He has served on the Center for Innovation Foundation since 2001.

Trustee: Bart Holaday, of Grand Forks and Colorado Springs, CO was head of the Private Markets Group of UBS Asset Management and its predecessor entities for 15 years prior to his retirement in 2001, during which time he managed more than $19 billion in investments. He previously was vice president of the InnoVen Venture Capital Group. Holaday is currently the president and owner of Dakota Renewable Energy Fund, LLC, which invests in early stage ventures in North Dakota. He is on the board of directors of Adams Street Partners, a private equity investment firm; Alerus Financial of Grand Forks; Montana Dakota Utilities; the United States Air Force Academy Endowment (former-chair); the Falcon Foundation (former vice president); and is chairman and CEO of the Dakota Foundation. He is a past member of the board of directors of the National Venture Capital Association and Walden University.  Holaday has a bachelor’s degree in engineering sciences from the U.S. Air Force Academy. He was a Rhodes Scholar, earning a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Oxford University. He also earned a law degree from George Washington Law School and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. In 2005, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of North Dakota. He has served on the UND Center for Innovation Foundation since 2002.

Trustee: Howard Dahl, is president and CEO of Amity Technology in Fargo and CEO of joint venture AGCO-Amity JV since Nov. 2010.  Amity markets farm equipment in 14 countries while AGCO, based in Duluth, Ga., has more than 2,700 dealers and operates in 140 countries. Dahl heads the AGCO-Amity effort to manufacture and market air seeders and tillage equipment. He continues to run Amity Technology with its sugar beet manufacturing equipment. Howard and Brian Dahl started Concord Inc. in 1977 with their father, Gene Dahl, who was a board chairman for Steiger Tractor Co. Howard and Brian’s grandfather, E.G. Melroe, was a founder of the family company that founded the Bobcat skid steer loader manufacturer. Gene Dahl was a son-in-law to Melroe. Dahl received an honorary degree from UND in 2010.

Trustee: Jerry Van Eeckhout, joined the board of directors in 2008.  He is Chairman of Evergreen Enterprises, LLC and previously served as CEO of ConferTech International (NASDAQ) from 1982 to 1990 and CEO of ACT Teleconferencing (NASDAQ) from 1990 to 2003, when he retired.  His management career includes seven years as Controller, Vice President, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer of Medtronic, Inc (NYSE), five years as Chief Financial and Planning Officer of the Pillsbury Co. International Division (NYSE), and eight years as a CPA with Touche Ross and Co., all in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  He received a BS in Accounting from UND in 1962 and is a 1976 graduate of the Stanford Business School Executive Program. He served as an outside director of several public and private companies in the United States and China in the telecommunications, food, medical technology and  non-profit sectors.  He is a former National Director of the American Electronics Association, a past President of the UND Foundation where he served for nine years.  He was named to the North Dakota Entrepreneur Hall of Fame in 1998 and received the 2001 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Rocky Mountain region.  He has served as a Professor of Accounting, Finance, Marketing, and International Management at the University of Minnesota, the University of Denver and the University of Shanghai.

Trustee:  Bill Ness, Retired CEO and Chairman of Arctic Cat of Thief River Falls, Minnesota. Ness joined Arctic Enterprises, Inc. in 1966 as Director of Engineering and served as a leader for 40 years. . His engineering skills made possible many of Arctic Cats' new model snowmobiles. He was also involved in the development and production of several of the famous Arctic Cat "dragsters" which served to enhance the publics' awareness of the sport of snowmobiling. During his association with both Arctic Enterprises and Arctco, Ness  held top management positions ranging Director of Engineering with Arctic Enterprises to President, CEO and Chairman of Arctco, Inc. Ness was inducted into the Snowmobile Hall of Fame in 1996.  Ness lives in Hudson, Wisconsin.

Trustee Emeritus: Russell Brown, Retired President and CEO of AGSCO of Grand Forks now living in Buckeye, Arizona. Brown is a 1995 recipient of the North Dakota Business Innovator of the Year, and is the past chairman of the Center for Innovation Advisory Board. Russ served as Chairman of the Foundation from 2001 to 2004.

Trustee Emeritus:  Fran Jabara, President of Jabara Ventures Group, Wichita, Kansas and Founding Director of the Center for Entrepreneur Ventures at Wichita State University.

Four other directors from UND are ex-officio, non-voting members. They are: the President, the Vice President for Finance & Operations, Dean of the College of Business & Public Administration, and the Director of the Center for Innovation who also serves as the CEO of the Center for Innovation Foundation.

The Foundation supports the Center for Innovation to fulfill their mission of helping entrepreneurs, innovators, researchers and students launch new technologies, products and ventures, develop business and marketing plans, and access talent and sources of venture financing. The Center has initiatives in developing seed, venture and angel capital infrastructure across the Great Plains. The Center manages two Tech Incubators that host more than 20 entrepreneur ventures employing more than 110 people. The Center was among the first technology entrepreneur outreach centers in the nation and has helped launch more than 440 new products and ventures since it was formed in 1984. The Center has won five national awards for excellence in innovation and entrepreneurship plus two national rankings among the nation's 700 entrepreneur programs. In 2003 the Center received the SBA Research Advocate of the Year award for ND and six western states.