Dartmouth's Entrepreneurial Community Pivots to Face Pandemic

The core principles of flexibility and innovation serve as guides.

Centers and institutes across Dartmouth are exploring ways to continue their public events and maintain community during the COVID-19 pandemic. This story is the third in a series on some of the creative solutions that have emerged.

In the face of the global pandemic, the Dartmouth entrepreneurial community is tapping into its core principles, confronting uncertainty and risk with flexibility and experimentation to not only survive, but to thrive.

"I firmly believe that a moment like this is built for the entrepreneurial thinker and the innovative mind," says Jamie Coughlin, director of the Magnuson Center for Entrepreneurship. "We're approaching this crisis in that spirit—how can we better and more effectively build up the Dartmouth entrepreneurial community and better connect with all our constituents—students, faculty, staff, and alumni—in this way."

John H. Krehbiel Sr. Professor for Emerging Technologies Eric Fossum, the associate provost for entrepreneurship and technology transfer (and inventor of the CMOS image sensor technology that enables all these video meetings), says this expanding virtual community offers a crucial way to confront the demands of the day.

"These are such unusual times, and a sense of community is needed more than ever," Fossum says. "It is great to see the Magnuson Center and its entrepreneurial program offerings adapt and leverage new opportunities for interaction. I applaud Jamie and his team's efforts to make the rapid pivot to utilizing video communications technology that connects our community in ways that can be even stronger and more diverse than ever before."