OAI Faculty and Staff Winter Institute 2027

Winter Institute participant speaking into a microphone during a group session

Explore, Experiment, Create

Innovate Anywhere: From Ideas to Impact

Hosted by the Office of Academic Innovation and Student Innovation Idea Labs, this Winter Institute invites CPP faculty and staff to explore entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial mindsets on January 13th–14th. Through hands-on innovation, prototyping, and community problem-solving, participants will learn practical ways to help students turn ideas into action and build career-ready skills.

Register on Eventbrite

Two Days of Discovery

Two workshop participants reviewing a laptop together

Day 1 - Build Your Innovation Mindset

Explore entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial mindsets through a keynote, panel discussions, and practical activities. Learn how the Innovate Anywhere framework can help students recognize opportunities, experiment, and turn ideas into action while strengthening student agency and career readiness.

Participant working on a tree-shaped design at a table

Day 2 - Innovation in Action

Put your learning into practice through an optional hands-on experience. Explore making, prototyping, or community-engaged problem-solving, and discover approaches you can adapt to your work with students. Choose from experiences at the iLab (Building 1, Room 113), Maker Studio (University Library), or Community Innovation Hub (Downtown Pomona).

Meet Our Keynote Speaker

Ryan Foland

Ryan Foland is an author, speaker, and Director of the UCI ANTrepreneur Center. His keynote, “Connecting the Next Dot: How Faculty and Staff Help Students Innovate Anywhere,” explores how campus connections can turn student curiosity into action. Discover how to connect students with people, programs, and opportunities that help their ideas move forward.

Ryan Foland, Winter Institute keynote speaker

Sessions That Spark Innovation

Card 1 of 6
Day 1 - Build Your Innovation Mindset

Innovate Anywhere: Design Thinking in Practice

Explore the Innovate Anywhere framework and design thinking as approaches to understanding student needs and moving ideas toward action. Consider how these approaches can support innovation across courses, programs, and student services.

Card 2 of 6
Day 1 - Build Your Innovation Mindset

From Ideas to Realized Projects

Explore how faculty and staff help students turn early ideas into projects, ventures, and startups. This panel examines mentorship, campus resources, prototyping, and industry connections that support students as they develop and test their ideas.

Card 3 of 6
Day 1 - Build Your Innovation Mindset

Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs, and Side Hustlers

Discover examples of innovation across teaching, campus work, student interests, and community engagement. This lunch showcase highlights the different ways members of the CPP community put ideas into practice.

Card 4 of 6
Day 1 - Build Your Innovation Mindset

Student and Alumni Perspectives on Innovation

Hear student and alumni perspectives on innovation and consider how faculty and staff can support students as they explore ideas and opportunities. Connect these perspectives with the institute’s focus on entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial mindsets.

Card 5 of 6
Day 1 - Build Your Innovation Mindset

Your Next Dot: From Reflection to Action

Turn insights from the day into an individual action plan. Identify one practical opportunity to support students, choose a first step, and outline the people, resources, timeline, and evidence of progress that can help you move forward.

Card 6 of 6
Day 2 - Innovation in Action

Innovation in Action

Put your learning into practice through an optional hands-on experience at the iLab, Maker Studio, or Community Innovation Hub. Explore making, prototyping, or community-centered problem-solving and consider how to bring these approaches into your work with students.

Learning Outcomes

Connect Mindsets to Student Success

Understand entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial mindsets and their connection to student success and career readiness.

Identify Skills for Innovation

Identify key competencies students need to innovate and thrive in a changing world, including opportunity recognition, initiative, experimentation, resourcefulness, collaboration, resilience, and value creation.

Move Ideas into Action

Apply the Innovate Anywhere framework to help students move from ideas to experimentation and action.

Experience Hands-On Innovation

Experience hands-on innovation, making, prototyping, and community-engaged problem-solving approaches that can be adapted across disciplines and student experiences.

Cultivate Innovation Across CPP

Develop actionable strategies for cultivating entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial mindsets across the Bronco experience.

Institute Schedule & Registration

Workshop presenter gesturing with a raised hand

Institute Schedule

The Academic Innovation Winter Institute will take place on January 13th - 14th 2027, at Cal Poly Pomona, Building 162, Room 1001. Sessions run from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM on both days. Stay tuned for full program details!

Cal Poly Pomona College of Business Administration building

Registration

Registration is free for faculty and staff at Cal Poly Pomona. Includes continental breakfast, lunch and access to all sessions.

Why Attend?

  1. Gain Insights from Academic Experts

    Learn from leading academic experts and innovators in higher education.

  2. Earn a Cal Poly Pomona Digital Badge

    Boost your professional growth with an official digital badge recognizing your participation and learning.

  3. Build Meaningful Connections

    Network and collaborate with educators, researchers, and industry professionals across the Cal Poly Pomona Community.

Frequently Asked Questions:


The institute is designed for CPP faculty and staff across disciplines and departments who want to help students develop an innovative mindset, take initiative, and build skills for their future careers.

The main program takes place on January 13, 2027. Innovation in Action, a complementary hands-on experience exploring CPP’s innovation ecosystem, follows on January 14, 2027.

No. Entrepreneurial thinking extends beyond starting a business. The institute explores how recognizing opportunities, experimenting, collaborating, and creating value can strengthen learning and student experiences across disciplines, programs, and campus services.

An entrepreneurial mindset involves recognizing opportunities, taking initiative, mobilizing resources, and creating value. An intrapreneurial mindset applies those same capabilities within an existing organization, such as a university, to improve programs, services, systems, and communities.

Innovation in Action is the January 14 hands-on experience where participants can put their learning into practice and explore CPP’s innovation ecosystem. Planned locations include:

  • iLab: Building 1, Room 113

  • Maker Studio: University Library

  • Community Innovation Hub: Downtown Pomona

Experiences will connect the institute’s themes to making, experimentation, prototyping, and community-engaged problem-solving.

You will leave with practical tools and actionable strategies for cultivating entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial mindsets in your work with students. You will also gain a deeper understanding of how curiosity, initiative, resourcefulness, calculated risk-taking, and resilience can turn ideas into meaningful impact.

For questions, please contact the Office of Academic Innovation at ai@cpp.edu

More Information