Butler's iSpace seeks to encourage innovative ideas

The new Butler College Innovation Space, or iSpace, aims to be a hub for budding entrepreneurs, Butler College Director of Studies Matthew Lazen said.

The iSpace is located in the basement of Wu Hall and was officially inaugurated last November.

The walls of the space are covered with whiteboards, and the movable tables can also be written on with dry-erase markers so that spontaneous ideas can be jotted down, according to John Danner, a lecturer in the Department of Electrical Engineering who was involved during construction process. In addition, the space is equipped with an Apple-TV, and work is in progress to secure forthcoming technology that will allow multiple users to project their screens onto the TV at the same time, he noted.

Danner added that the space was stocked with supplies like paper, blue tape, Lego bricks and marking pins to foster innovative thinking.

“It’s a place that encourages unpredictable creative collision,” he said, comparing the space to larger ones at the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford.

According to Danner, some universities like Berkeley and Stanford have multiple buildings and faculty members dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship. To date, the iSpace is the only room on campus that houses the entrepreneurial community.

Lazen said that much of the inspiration for the iSpace came from the book “Make Space: How to Set the Stage for Creative Collaboration” by Scott Doorley from the Stanford d.school. He added that the iSpace was not nearly as elaborate as spaces at schools like Stanford and that the idea was to allow students to make the space their own and to accommodate their needs as they cropped up.

Lazen noted the initial idea for the space was to build a community at Butler similar to Mathey College’s Edwards Collectives.

“The group of people that came to mind was entrepreneurs, especially social entrepreneurs,” Lazen said.

The Princeton Entrepreneurship Club reached out to the Butler College Office requesting the space at the same time as the Butler administration contacted the club Co-Presidents for their input, he explained.

“It was like zeitgeist,” he said.

Henry Shangguan ’18, Co-President of the Princeton Entrepreneurship Club, said that the club sorely felt the need for such a space on campus. “A lot of schools have dedicated entrepreneurial areas on campus… and Princeton didn’t really have that,” he said.

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“There are other places on campus built for collaborative learning, but in most cases there’s just a blackboard against a wall and you’re restrained to that one blackboard,” Yash Huilgol ’18, who has used the space for group projects in his EGR 498: Social Entrepreneurship, noted.

“I love that you can write literally from floor to ceiling, and you don’t have to erase anything to see the full picture,” he added.

Danner noted the iSpace is for students who are still in the exploration phase rather than committed to a venture.

When entrepreneurs get more serious about their ideas and want to invest more in a start-up, they would migrate to the Princeton Entrepreneurial Hub on Chambers Street, an initiative spearheaded by the Keller Center for Innovation in Engineering Education, which has more resources and mentoring available, he explained.