Kern Entrepreneurship Education Network (KEEN)

Overview

The Foundation created the Kern Entrepreneurship Education Network (KEEN) in 2005 as a collegiate initiative to complement efforts at the K-12 level to increase the quantity and quality of U.S. engineering talent.

Mission
KEEN’s mission is to graduate engineers equipped with an action-oriented entrepreneurial mindset who will contribute to business success and transform the U.S. workforce.

The long-term goal is for these new engineers to catalyze a transformation in the workforce and to build economic and technical commerce in their communities. This focus on entrepreneurial leaders is increasingly important as the U.S. competes to maintain its economic position in a global marketplace based on innovation.

Approach
The KEEN program aims to fulfill this mission by supporting the creation of programs that develop technical leaders with strong skills and an entrepreneurial mindset in undergraduate engineering programs at select private U.S. colleges and universities.

Network
A fundamental and distinctive element of the KEEN initiative is its focus on developing a network of engineering schools. Together these schools identify best practices in entrepreneurial education at the undergraduate level and share them among institutions to create institutional advantage by being part of the network. Visit www.keennetwork.com, KEEN's web-based collaboration tool.

The Foundation makes KEEN grants by invitation only.  No additional invitations are being made at this time.