Facilities and Incubators

Columbia Startup Lab

Located at 69 Charlton Street, the Columbia Startup Lab is a 5,100 sq.ft. co-working facility at WeWork Soho West that provides subsidized space for 71 Columbia alumni entrepreneurs to house and nurture their fledgling ventures. It is a testimony to Columbia University’s longstanding spirit of collaboration and burgeoning entrepreneurial community. With more than 40 startups from all over the Columbia campus, the Lab is the result of a unique partnership between the deans of Columbia College and the Schools of Business, Engineering, Law, Public Health and International and Public Affairs, and Columbia Entrepreneurship, which holds a few seats for alumni from all schools across the University.

MakerSpace

The Columbia MakerSpace is a place for all Columbia affiliated faculty, staff, post-docs, and students to develop their ideas into tangible items. Feel free to use it as a resource for projects, hobbies, building prototypes, or just trying something new. To join as a user you just need to attend a short safety and orientation session and sign up. Regular users can then attend anytime that the space is open. The space is staffed by volunteers promoted from the user base. The CMS website has a list of equipment, including a range of 3D printers, a laser cutter, and a number of CNC tools for digital fabrication. It is also well equipped with tools (including a comprehensive set of bicycle repair tools) and supplies (solder, glue, 3D printer filament, etc). Dr. John Kymissis and Dr. Hod Lipson are the faculty directors of the Columbia MakerSpace.

Columbia Biomedical Accelerator​

The Columbia Biomedical Technology Accelerator (formerly the Columbia-Coulter Translational Research Partnership) aims to catalyze the advancement of biomedical technologies by providing funding, education, resources and mentorship to teams of clinicians, engineers and scientists working to develop solutions to clinical unmet needs, with the ultimate goal of bringing innovative research out of the lab to benefit society.

Project support is expected to serve as a bridge to commercial investment, with awards granted to perform specific tasks needed to validate a commercial hypothesis (vs. a scientific hypothesis).

Funding for the program has been generously provided by the Dept of Biomedical Engineering at the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, the Depts of Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery and Radiology at Columbia University Medical Center, and Columbia Technology Ventures, the technology transfer office of Columbia University.

Design Studio​

Located at 645 W 120th Street, Room 430, the Columbia Entrepreneurship Design Studio helps students, faculty, and alumni approach opportunities and challenges – whether it be in the classroom, in their career, or with their personal goals – in a more entrepreneurial, collaborative, and creatively confident way.

 

Open Startup International

Open startup international is an organization that provides a platform for innovation and capacity building through entrepreneurial education and cross-cultural exchanges between the US and startup ecosystems in emerging markets. The organization is a joint initiative between Columbia Engineering, Business School, and Global Centers with a national entrepreneurial competition in Tunisia and Morocco. It is sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Tunisia and Morocco with the aim to develop ideas for innovative startups in line with sustainable development goals. The competition brings together teams of high potential students from Tunisian & Morocco with a chance of winning a trip to Columbia University in the City of New York to compete in the Columbia Venture Competition.