Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship

Infobox University
name = Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship


motto = Entrepreneurship through Knowledge
established = 2006
location_city = flagicon|Jordan Amman
type = non-profit non-governmental organization
chairman = Queen Rania Al Abdullah
director = Basel Kilany
colors = terquaz and White color box|#2994A9color box|#FFFFFF
city = Amman, Jordan
website = [http://www.qrce.org www.qrce.org]

The Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship (QRCE) is a non-profit & non-governmental organization. Established in October 2004 and located at the El Hassan Science City, Jubaiha. Its mission is to support economic growth by providing an array of services in entrepreneurship development and technology commercialization through the several programs conducted by QRCE

The establishment Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship is an integral part of the expansion plan of Princess Sumaya University for Technology. The idea was to name the Center after a prominent Arab dignitary known for his/her distinguished role in developing entrepreneurship. Thus, work towards launching the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship (QRCE) started in October 2004. This state of the art center will be located at the heart of Jordan's scientific, academic and R&D corridor. Furthermore, the center will extend its services to cover not only Jordan but the region as a whole.

The center is planned to be the regions' corner stone for technology commercialization and entrepreneurship development. The QRCE will target university students, researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs and others. According to PSUT's development plan, the next step will be the establishment of a business school to be linked to the center.

Working closely with local and international organizations; the QRCE focuses on issues such as: capacity building, consulting, counseling and developing the local "Entrepreneurial Personality & Spirit". Furthermore, the QRCE is actively working on extending the intellectual wealth of Jordan while maintaining strong links with the business community in general.

Vision

An economic engine by which Jordan's intellectual wealth can be uplifted to unprecedented levels and a regional cornerstone for technology commercialization and entrepreneurship development.

Mission

The Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship's mission is to support economic growth by providing an array of services in entrepreneurship development and technology commercialization.

Objectives

1. To evolve and expand into a comprehensive entrepreneurship enabler, involved in fostering creativity, incubating viable concepts, and facilitating the success of entrepreneurial ventures to a level that affects the cultural orientation of the Jordanian community

2. To bridge the gap between academia, business and government in the entrepreneurial arena and increase knowledge transfer in all directions.

3. To facilitate Jordan's economic diversification through promoting applied research and technology transfer.

4. Bring the benefits of commercializing knowledge to national technology entrepreneurs and to the Jordanian economy in general.

5. To provide an educational platform for aspiring and practicing entrepreneurs through added value programs aimed at strengthening their technical and soft skills in order to help them develop more productive, profitable and growth-oriented businesses.

6. To promote healthy business cultures.

7. To promote corporate governance and recommend policies, laws and regulations concerning technology commercialization and entrepreneurship.

QRCE programs

1. Queen Rania national Entrepreneurship Competition (QRNEC)

2. Technology Commercialization Program (TCP)

3. Made In Jordan Competition (MIJC)

4. CONNECT Jordan

5. Student entrepreneurship society (DART)

The Queen Rania National Entrepreneurship Competition

The Queen Rania National Entrepreneurship Competition (QRNEC) provides a platform to increase the interest of Jordanian university students and the public in designing a path to achieve their dreams. The competition strives to advocate entrepreneurial skills as participants coalesce their university or work knowledge with their resources along with their competitive drive to create a business plan that is both practical and innovative.

The vision of QRNEC is to evolve and expand into a comprehensive entrepreneurship enabler, involved in fostering creativity, incubating viable concepts, and facilitating the success of entrepreneurial ventures to a level that affects the cultural orientation of the Jordanian community.The competition combines technical and business skills to establish a long lasting profitable business. It focuses on the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Applied engineering sectors, to assist young Jordanians to start taking steps towards their future.The Queen Rania National Entrepreneurship Competition objective is to stimulate entrepreneurship among university students and youth by presenting a chance for students to analyze their environment and discover entrepreneurship opportunities to catalyze future development.

"Google Award for the Best Online Business Plan"
Google is offering an award to encourage and support budding entrepreneurs with innovative ideas for online businesses in Jordan and beyond. The Google Award will recognize the boldest, most innovative and most scalable online business plan. The winner of the Google Award will receive a prize of US $ 10,000.

"KADDB Award for the Best Business Plan in Defense and Security"
King Abdullah II Design and Development Bureau, a pioneer in scientific research and development in defense and security sectors in Jordan and the region, will be offering a special cash award of $10,000 for the best business plan for a defense and security project.

The Technology Commercialization Program

The Technology Commercialization Program is a national program initiated by PSUT, the Royal Scientific Society, the Higher Council for Science and Technology, and several key organization and companies from the private and public sectors. It aims at increasing the awareness of researchers and innovators about the economical value of their intellectual assets.

Creating national intellectual wealth requires protection and continuous support. Building on this vision, the program incorporates the idea of enabling intellectuals and researchers to protect their intellectual output, hence facilitating the creation of high return investments.

The program is supervised by a group of specialists from Jordan and the region representing both the private and public sectors. Currently, we are working on creating the Innovation & Intellectual Property Forum of Jordan (I²FJ) that will bring together institutions concerned with fostering innovation and commercializing technology.

Made In Jordan Competition

Made in Jordan Competition (MIJC) is a national competition aims at extracting innovations in Jordan by channeling research in Jordanian universities, especially graduation project and thesis of graduate studies, towards developing industrial or software prototypes that solve real technological, engineering, or scientific problems in the region. This will foster business-oriented results and new product development with significant market value.

The MIJC is a pilot program for Industry-University Linkage (IUL) in Jordan through requiring a sponsor from the industry for each graduation project. The project sponsor has to offer financial, technical, or consultative supports for the students. MIJC shall be assisting in developing the entrepreneurial and technical skills of the program participants through the specialized trainings that offers, as well as recognizing innovative and outstanding technology business ideas.

The CONNECT Jordan

CONNECT is an organization that links entrepreneurs to the financial, technical and business development resources they need to create and develop high-growth technology companies in Jordan. Founded in 1985 at the urging of San Diego’s business community, UCSD CONNECT is widely regarded as the most successful program in the USA. By organizing activities and offering advice, CONNECT Jordan supports and improves the opportunities for entrepreneurs and start-ups. The needs of entrepreneurs are always central, and CONNECT’s objective is to speed up the start-ups’ commercialization, thus creating additional jobs in Jordan.

Working closely With CONNECT Sweden; CONNECT Jordan links entrepreneurs and resources through what is called springboards; springboards are intended to support the development of growth companies.

An expert panel helps entrepreneurs solve problems and identify opportunities, and gives practical advice on what action entrepreneurs should take to exploit these opportunities. Springboards are intended primarily to serve newly started companies, but can also help more mature companies to make progress.

Springboards make up the core CONNECT activity. Other important activities include financial forums, partnership forums and instructional publications.

DART; The Student Entrepreneurship Society

DART was founded in September, 2004. DART is the student's entrepreneurship society at PSUT's campus. The DART name and logo resembles an arrow hitting a target. It is also an acronym for: Dream, Aim, Reach and Target. DART students work hard to bridge the gap between students in the academic world and companies in the business world. The DART team focus on promoting the entrepreneurial spirit amongst PSUT students as a style of life. In the ICT-oriented youth society we live in, the increasing demand for highly competent graduates makes us realize the pressing need to be innovative and aware of the ever evolving labor market.

But from the students point of view, dart is a useless program which does not have good activities and the needed attention from students.

External links

* [http://www.qrce.org The Queen Rania Ceenter for Entrepreneurship]
* [http://www.qrnec.com The Queen Rania National Entrepreneurship Competition]
* [http://www.tcpjordan.com Technology Commercialization Program]
* [http://www.qrce.org/?page_id=268 Made in Jordan Competition]
* [http://www.dartjordan.com DART; The Student Entrepreneurship Society]
* [http://elhassansciencecity.com/ ElHassan Science City]
* [http://www.psut.edu.jo Princess Sumaya University for Technology]