Health science startup camp for college students set for May at UCA

Undergraduate students interested in entrepreneurship in medical science fields will have the opportunity to attend Health Sciences Entrepreneurship Boot Camp May 20-25 at the University of Central Arkansas.

The residential camp is open to students throughout Arkansas who have finished sophomore year, according to a press release from The Conductor, an partnership between UCA in Conway and Startup Junkie Consulting in Fayetteville that is focused on fostering entrepreneurship through programs and mentorship.

In its second year, the camp is presented by the Conductor and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and BioVentures, both of Little Rock,

“We’re thrilled to partner with the Conductor to offer this camp for the second year,” Nancy Gray, president of BioVentures, said in the press release. BioVentures is a biomedical technology commercialization organization and startup incubator. “This camp is integral in creating a statewide, biomedical research infrastructure in Arkansas and expands the state’s health sciences entrepreneurial network.”

The Conductor described the program as “intensive,” providing students the opportunity to identify problems in healthcare and then work to form new venture ideas to solve them. Students will be able to “talk to potential customers, meet with influential faculty and work closely with mentors from the healthcare industry. The boot camp coaches the teams through everything from entity filing and intellectual property to creating a sustainable entrepreneurial team,” according to the press release.

“This camp is emblematic of the Conductor’s mission to foster and nourish entrepreneurial talent within our state,” Jeff Standridge, chief catalyst for the Conductor, said in the release. “This camp creates opportunities to show students that there are viable career paths to entrepreneurship, and to introduce them to the vast experts and resources in the state’s health sciences.”

This past spring, the camp’s inaugural group represented 10 colleges and universities, according to Conductor.

“One of the outstanding outcomes of this camp is the opportunity it gives students to push their limits in a deep, meaningful way,” Kim Lane, chief operating officer of the Conductor, said in the release. “Not only are they building their social networks with other college students, they are creating a framework that reaches all corners of the state, and taking their entrepreneurial knowledge and skills back to their hometowns — from north Arkansas to the Delta.”

The camp is all-expenses-paid for accepted students and is funded through UAMS, BioVentures and the Conductor. Space permitting, there will spots available for immediate graduates and graduate students, according to the program. Applications will be accepted through March 23 (or Feb. 23 for early consideration).