Spelman College Receives $10 Million Grant From The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation To Support Innovation And Entrepreneurship

Spelman College announced a $10 million grant from The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation to support an on-campus creative hub for young entrepreneurs.

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The funding will establish the Arthur M. Blank Innovation Lab. Formerly known as the Spelman Innovation Lab, the space is a campus-wide resource for entrepreneurial ideation, unconventional research, experimental pedagogy and exploratory play.

The Arthur M. Blank Innovation Lab will form a hub for creative inquiry in Spelman’s new Center for Innovation & the Arts, a state-of-the-art learning environment slated to open in 2024. In addition to cutting edge technology tools, The Lab will house the Center for Black Entrepreneurship, which will guide students through an entrepreneurship curriculum and a number of rich co-curricular activities, that will serve as the foundation for the creation of new businesses and bridge the gap between students with competitive ideas and venture capital firms.

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“This tremendous gift will allow the College to build on an existing culture of strong innovation and entrepreneurship activity that will help grow a pool of Black entrepreneurs” said Mary Schmidt Campbell, Ph.D., president of Spelman. “Through the support of The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation our new Center for Black Entrepreneurship will have a home for our budding entrepreneurs where they can build community with other entrepreneurs, artists, creators and innovators.”

Tools available in the Lab include 3D printers, laser cutters, 4-axis CNC router, and a 3D scanner along with many other conventional hand tools and power tools that make prototyping of just about anything possible in one space.

“Today’s young entrepreneurs will play an important role in solving many of our society’s most critical issues, and we’re pleased to support Spelman in creating a place where students can come together to share and test ideas that will also create more opportunities for positive engagement and growth with the local Westside community,” said Arthur M. Blank, chairman, The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. “I’m also personally proud to support the alma mater of Rosalind Brewer, Spelman Board Trustee and Blank Family Foundation Associate Board Member, who often champions her experience at Spelman and the impact that it’s had on her success.”

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