The Ohio State University has set a target of supporting 100 investible student startups each year by 2030 through BuildX, a new initiative that will combine academic coursework with the university’s existing entrepreneurship programs, mentorship and funding.
President Ravi V. Bellamkonda announced the target as part of Ohio State’s wider ambition to become a major hub for student-led innovation and entrepreneurship. BuildX will include courses that students can take for academic credit, although the university says further details about the program are still to come.
The initiative is not starting from scratch. Ohio State already operates startup competitions, accelerators, entrepreneurship communities and software industry programs, and this year brought together its Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship and Center for Software Innovation to create a more connected route for students developing ventures.
That means BuildX will sit over an existing infrastructure rather than functioning as a standalone startup accelerator.
Bellamkonda said on LinkedIn that the university wants to become “a haven for student entrepreneurs,” with programming, mentorship and financial support available to students developing their ideas.
The scale of the target is the clearest new commitment. By 2030, Ohio State wants 100 student ventures a year to have reached what it describes as an “investible” stage.
From ideas to investible companies
Ohio State’s current entrepreneurship programs cover different stages of that process.
LaunchpadOSU operates as a startup weekend focused on forming ideas and teams, while BOSS competitions provide another route for students developing businesses. The university also runs Entrepreneurship and Innovation Scholars and an Entrepreneurship and Innovation Living-Learning Community.
Other opportunities include the President’s Buckeye Award, scheduled for the spring, and a Student Builder Showcase at Construct I/O on November 6.
The university is also widening participation beyond students studying business.
Its Summer Catalyst program brought together 167 students working across 86 ventures, with ideas spanning health care, business services, digital platforms and consumer products.
Another program, Future Leaders in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, pairs STEM researchers with MBA students to explore whether university research could have commercial applications. Its first cohort included students from business, engineering, medicine and arts and sciences.
This interdisciplinary approach is also reflected in Ohio State’s wider research activity, where students can work with faculty in areas including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, advanced materials, battery technology, health care, biomedical engineering, agriculture, climate and sustainability.
For students looking for experience inside existing companies, the Center for Software Innovation runs a part-time co-op program connecting them with innovation-focused businesses to work alongside founders, engineers and operators on product, engineering and go-to-market challenges.
Existing student ventures provide the model
Ohio State points to MobilePantry as one example of how that support can work in practice.
Finance student Jack Swartley founded the venture during his freshman year to address food waste and food insecurity in Columbus. He used entrepreneurship programs, mentors and university connections while developing the business.
“Without the Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship’s programming, MobilePantry would never have gotten off the ground,” Swartley says.
He also credits introductions and volunteer mentors with helping him secure a venture capital role at Vessel.
Ohio State has been extending those connections beyond its Columbus campus. In July, university-supported entrepreneurs gathered at a startup hub in San Francisco’s South Park neighborhood as part of Third Coast Foundry, an initiative connecting Midwest universities and their founders with investors, alumni and commercial opportunities in the Bay Area.
Closer to campus, Ohio State also positions Columbus’s startup community, including founders, investors, accelerators and companies, as part of the network available to students developing businesses.
BuildX is intended to pull more of these existing routes together while introducing academic credit into the university’s entrepreneurship offer.
