{"id":120511,"date":"2020-03-26T14:05:27","date_gmt":"2020-03-26T20:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=120511"},"modified":"2020-04-18T09:34:13","modified_gmt":"2020-04-18T15:34:13","slug":"benjamin-kwitek-on-future-innovation-the-best-is-yet-to-come","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=120511","title":{"rendered":"Benjamin Kwitek on future innovation: “The best is yet to come”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Director of Innovation Benjamin Kwitek<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Inventiveness is nothing new for UCCS\u2019 Director of Innovation, Benjamin Kwitek. Since 2017, first with teaching and now with leadership, he has been expanding UCCS\u2019 Bachelor of Innovation (BI) program into a groundbreaking educational experience built around entrepreneurship, self-sufficiency and resourcefulness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the last two years, he has secured two noteworthy grants and threaded his inspirational philosophies on success and failure into this special family of degrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before Kwitek brought his unique skill set to UCCS, he spent years as an inventor. Kwitek was the mind behind patents for various products, including a soft, ergonomic pen grip \u2013 licensed by Pilot, Pentel, and other pen companies \u2013 and haptic improvements for consumer electronic devices licensed by Dell, Sony, and Lenovo. But he is quick to admit that some of his inventions were flops, including the first version of his grip \u2013 developed for golf clubs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt basically failed in the market because I didn\u2019t understand what the customer really wanted,\u201d Kwitek says. \u201cBut after a lot of rejection, I came up with a different grip for pens which ended up selling more than 100 million units.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With many winning inventions now under his belt, Kwitek didn\u2019t come to UCCS for fortune or fame. He simply wants to teach students how to think differently, especially when it comes to defining achievement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Teaching] is interesting to me, not because of time and money, but because it has a big impact.\u201d Kwitek explains. \u201cOne thing I like to tell students is: \u2018Failure is the key ingredient in success.You don\u2019t get success without trying a lot of things and failing.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This notion is hardwired directly into UCCS\u2019 groundbreaking Bachelor of Innovation program, which uses an interdisciplinary model to intersect different areas of study related to innovation. Students who are interested in everything from business and art to science and game design are able to delve into a breadth of subjects, all united under one entrepreneurial banner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kwitek posing for a photo in Bahrain in April 2019, where he spoke to the Global Entrepreneurship Congress.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAmazing things happen when you combine people from different disciplines,\u201d Kwitek says. \u201cIt provides insights that you wouldn\u2019t ordinarily expect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As director, Kwitek is ensuring his students are getting the most out of the BI program. Part of this comes down to the program\u2019s faculty, who bring real-world experience and skills into the classroom. Because of this, the BI program favors experiential learning to standard textbook education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting out of \u201ccomfort zones\u201d and experiencing more is something Kwitek imparts on his fellow staffers and students through practice. Over the last two years, Kwitek has been traveling the globe, giving talks about the power of innovation as part of the US State Department\u2019s GIST (Global Innovation Through Science and Tech) Initiative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These speeches eventually led Kwitek to secure a grant to host the GIST Visiting Global Entrepreneur Program at UCCS. From October to November 2019, five leading entrepreneurs and innovators hailing from Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Algeria, and Ecuador visited Colorado Springs and the UCCS campus, soaking up knowledge and culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe concept behind it was: Americans are good at entrepreneurship,\u201d Kwitek explains. \u201cSo, if we could go to countries where there is high unemployment and maybe even some Anti-American sentiment, and talk to them about starting a business and pursuing ideas, that would be a good form of diplomacy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kwitek has since followed up this diplomatic endeavor by securing a grant that will go toward increasing civics literacy among CU students. By teaching students more about the government and how it works, they are more likely to participate in essential political events, like voting. But for Kwitek, this grant also promotes innovation through the concept of intellectual property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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