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The University of Colorado-Boulder announced it would be piloting a new Entrepreneurs In Residence (EIR) program this fall aimed at bringing national and international entrepreneurs to its campus.
The program is one of only a few such programs in the United States where foreign nationals are issued H-1B work visas, thus eliminating a significant hurdle many internationals face in coming to the U.S.
“CU-Boulder is proud to be one of the nation’s top entrepreneurial universities,” Philip P. DiStefano, chancellor of CU-Boulder, said in a statement. “The Entrepreneurs In Residence program will further build our momentum, which includes a range of activities across the campus, and will bring entrepreneurs from around the world to CU-Boulder.”
The program will allow as many as four international entrepreneurs to come to the university and to trade their knowledge, acting as mentors to students, in exchange for an H-1B work visa. Selected entrepreneurs will perform as much as 20 hours of work a week on the campus, and receive a stipend of up to $25,000 a year. In their free time, they will be permitted to work on their own companies or start a new one.
“The EIR program will bring outside talent to campus to mentor students engaged in a range of projects requiring an entrepreneurial mindset,” said Phil Weiser, dean of the University of Colorado Law School. “It will also offer a unique opportunity to EIRs both to work on their companies in a tremendous community and, for those seeking authorization to stay in the United States, CU-Boulder’s EIR program will enable them to do so.”
The program was created with the help of Brad Feld, the managing director of the Foundry Group. Feld, who voiced frustration on his website with federal efforts to allow immigrant entrepreneurs to get visas to start their businesses in the U.S., funded the program with $150,000. CU-Boulder funded the program with an additional $50,000.
In order to be considered for the program, applicants need to have completed a graduate and undergraduate degree in a technical or business field. They will then be judged based on their experience, leadership, as well as the perceived promise of their current or envisioned company.
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