Why Participate

For Students

Employers actively seek students that can work effectively on a team, self-manage and motivate, apply critical thinking skills to an unstructured problem, and communicate their recommendations. The ISU Innovation Consulting Community provides students with projects to develop these habits and skills. You will also have a real-world business use-case project experience to showcase during employment interviews, develop closing working relationships with peers and mentors for potential letters of recommendation and references, and earn a certificate in innovation consulting! Participants during fall term will first engage with online modules around project management, leadership, self-awareness, and innovation prior to engaging in the spring term with a project of their and their peers’ choosing. This experience is extracurricular but academic credit (independent study) may be available in consultation with your mentor and academic advisor. Due to limited space, preference for selection and participation is given to juniors and seniors and graduate students or to those with experience on a previous project. The chief criteria is a student’s capability meaning aptitude, desire, and available time.

For Collaborators

The ISU Innovation Consulting Community provides you with the opportunity to engage at little financial cost with talented and motivated ISU faculty and students who can tackle such a project. Many organizational challenges and opportunities are increasingly complex and require multi-dimensional and interdisciplinary responses yet most courses in higher education today that have client (sponsor) projects typically field teams of students with similar backgrounds and skills that are working toward a specific major degree. Help build student capacity and network with faculty/staff at ISU who are very interested in your project domain.