Community Colleges as Incubators of Innovation

Since it first launched in 2002, I’ve been a member and close partner of the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE).  That’s why I’m so excited to see that the current NACCE leadership has put out an excellent book, Community Colleges as Incubators of Innovation, which distills lessons from NACCE’s 15 years of work to encourage community colleges to take a leading role in training students and assisting communities to start and grow new businesses.  This excellent edited volume is full of insights that are relevant not only to community college staff and partners, but to community and economic development leaders as well.  Chapters cover topics such as how to build and support regional ecosystems, working in rural regions, linking entrepreneurship and workforce programs, and how to teach and instill an entrepreneurial mindset in students.  Like community colleges, the book offers a great fusion of academic and real-life wisdom, mixing new ideas and approaches with focused case studies on what really works in both colleges and communities.