Alan L. Carsrud, Ph.D., Executive Director

The Eugenio Pino and Family Global Entrepreneurship Center, founded in 2003 at Florida International University, facilitates all entrepreneurial activities at FIU. The Center provides campus-wide awareness of entrepreneurship as an approach to life that enhances and transcends traditional academic experiences. It is woven into the fabric of FIU through activities and courses across the university. The multi-dimensional nature of the Center allows it to address the unique entrepreneurial needs of one of the nation’s largest ethnically diverse academic institutions, located in one of America’s most entrepreneurial and dynamic international cities, Miami.

Whether in the arts, sciences, business, engineering, or humanities, entrepreneurship at FIU adds value to every discipline and enhances the creativity and innovation of students, faculty, staff, and alumni. In addition to facilitating course development throughout FIU, the Center fosters new technology firms, strengthens existing family-owned and managed firms, researches important issues, encourages new community enterprises to improve the economic vitality of South Florida and the Americas, and develops entrepreneurial leaders in all areas.

Vision and Guiding Principles

The Center’s goal is to be a recognized international leader in entrepreneurship research, education, and outreach and to be ranked as one of the nation’s top entrepreneurship centers. The Center seeks to make entrepreneurship an important part of education across a wide variety of disciplines. Its guiding principles are to enhance the economic well-being of the community in which we live, give back to our fellow citizens, encourage the development and sharing of wealth with those who helped produce it, and build a sustainable community of lifelong learners. We believe strongly that all individuals and organizations should have an entrepreneurial orientation and that economic empowerment and sustainability can be attained through activities resulting from this approach.

The Center is built on five organizational pillars:

• Applied research focused on issues of specific concern to entrepreneurial enterprises in Florida and beyond;
• Education through formal courses and informal activities at FIU at both the graduate and undergraduate levels on the special issues facing entrepreneurial enterprises;
• Outreach directed to assisting entrepreneurial firms and new organizations in South Florida and the Americas;
• Interdisciplinary emphasis that promotes collaboration with colleges, departments, and centers across campus;
• International focus that builds upon FIU’s international reputation and Miami’s position as the business and financial crossroads of the Americas.

In addition to its extensive academic course offerings, the Center utilizes five operational units, operating in synergy to implement its program. They are the Entrepreneurial Academy, Institute for Family Business, Institute for Technology Innovation, Entrepreneurship Research Institute, and Institute for Community Innovation.

In 2003, FIU was selected as a Kauffman Campus by the Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City.