Are you curious how research projects become startups? Want to learn how entrepreneurial skills can enhance your PhD?

Come meet the Buerk Center team and learn about interdisciplinary opportunities across campus! Open to all students.

Founded in 1991, the Buerk Center offers an exceptional curriculum, real-world experiences, and connections to the Seattle entrepreneurial community to inspire students from all majors and disciplines across campus to pursue their entrepreneurial passions. Princeton Review and Entrepreneur Magazine ranked UW undergraduate and graduate entrepreneurship programs in the Top 10 nationally for 2024.

While our core curriculum focuses on entrepreneurial strategy, finance, and marketing, our electives run the gamut from Venture Investing to Software Entrepreneurship, from Grand Challenges for Entrepreneurs to Biomedical Entrepreneurship. The Buerk Center focuses on the strengths of the University of Washington and Seattle, and creates new courses that capitalize on those strengths.

Seattle and the Cascadia Corridor is a magnet for entrepreneurs. It has an entrepreneurial culture, research powerhouses, support for early-stage entrepreneurs, sources of capital, a talented pool of workers, and a strong media to tell startup stories. The Buerk Center celebrates this ecosystem annually with a series of innovation and startup competitions open to students at accredited colleges and universities across the Cascadia Corridor – Washington, Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia.