To improve student entrepreneurship, the University of Wisconsin has launched an entrepreneurship science lab.

Open since January, the lab is comprised of a multi-disciplinary team of scholars focusing on measurable outcomes relating to entrepreneurship and identifying mechanisms that drive those outcomes.

“Entrepreneurship is a means of upward mobility,” Lab Founder and Principal Investigator Jon Eckhardt said in a statement. “That’s one reason people pursue entrepreneurship as a career. From society’s perspective, entrepreneurs are our source of new products and services, in addition to new jobs.”

Current research projects include studying new ways residence halls can foster entrepreneurship and enhance academic outcomes like graduation and examining how COVID-19 may have impacted short-term business formation as well as long-term interests in entrepreneurship by students.