da Vinci Center News

Space operated by the VCU da Vinci Center for Innovation earns an honorable mention in the Urban Design category of the magazine’s 2022 World Changing Ideas Awards. Fast Company has named Shift Retail Lab at Virginia Commonwealth University as an honorable mention in the Urban Design category of the magazine’s 2022 World Changing Ideas Awards. Shift Retail […]

The Meadowbrook Academy for Developing Entrepreneurs (MADE) kicked off their inaugural Shark Tank event hosted at the VCU da Vinci Center Shift Retail Lab. Meadowbrook High’s Shark Tank project began at the start of the 2021-22 school year, when the Chesterfield Education Foundation connected the Meadowbrook Academy for Developing Entrepreneurs with a Fund for Entrepreneurial […]

Thank you to those that were able to participate in our first in-person Demo Day and livestream since 2019! It was a rousing success for us at da Vinci. Congratulations to the teams that earned Seed Funding Awards! C’est La Vie, Entrepreneur: Yosef Mirakov CohenKBHealth, Entrepreneur: Amir BehdaniNoodlers, Entrepreneur: Peyton SpanglerBetter2Gether, presented by entrepreneurs: Bella Lubinskas, Brenna […]

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) – Virginia Commonwealth University will be opening a Shift Retail Lab, which gives former and current students at the university a chance to showcase their work, giving them retail and office spaces. “While student founders will be able to sell their products in the Shift Retail Lab, the main goal is to […]

IN THE NEWS “If you stop in the da Vinci Center’s Shift Retail Lab after it opens in November, there’s no telling what you’ll find. And that’s part of the beauty of it. The shop is envisioned as multifunctional retail space where students and alumni of all disciplines can showcase their work to gain insights and test […]

IN THE NEWS “Design thinking, like systems engineering, is at the heart of how engineers solve problems,” said Barbara D. Boyan, Ph.D., the Alice T. and William H. Goodwin Jr. Dean of the VCU College of Engineering. “These are core skills that are critical for all types of engineering. Not only do the individual parts need to […]

IN THE NEWS “I wanted to work in collaborative environments where we could build a business from the ground up with the hope to gain experience to one day open my own business,” he said. That desire led him to pursue an undergraduate certificate in venture creation at the VCU da Vinci Center, a collaboration of […]

IN THE NEWS “Virginia Commonwealth University has launched two new initiatives through its da Vinci Center for Innovation: the Entrepreneurship Academy and the Student Storefront.  The projects are a collaboration between the da Vinci Center and two business-focused organizations in Richmond: Activation Capital, which supports innovative entrepreneurs and their startup ventures, and The Jackson Ward Collective (JWC), a new hub for […]

IN THE NEWS / MARCH 2021 “Jackson Ward Collective extended its network to VCU students this year through a partnership with Activation Capital — a nonprofit organization that helps new entrepreneurs with their ideas — and the university’s da Vinci Center for Innovation. The program, titled the Entrepreneurship Academy, promotes economic development and extends opportunities […]

IN THE NEWS / MARCH 2021 “Through a new collaboration with Richmond-area entrepreneurs, underrepresented students at Virginia Commonwealth University will have the opportunity to develop entrepreneurial skills and gain real-world experience.” RICHMOND INNO