About the Creative Entrepreneurship Initiative

The DAAP disciplines add value in creating products, services, and systems that create positive user experiences. Our goal is to bring our inherent strengths in creative problem solving into business and entrepreneurship and return such knowledge to the creative fields. DAAP faculty, staff, and students live Design Thinking and have the ability to realize and test conceptual ideation through digital and physical making to come to action with impactful and meaningful solutions. We have the expertise and capacity to collaborate in and be valuable contributors to solving wicked problems and naturally thrive in disrupting the norm as a value transaction framework.

For more than a decade, we have seen a surge in global efforts to energize entrepreneurial efforts especially in the creative fields of:

  • Agency Formation 
  • New Product Development 
  • Social/Nonprofit Initiatives 

These efforts have boosted the Cincinnati region into a national top 10 location for entrepreneurial ventures. Our university has established the 1819 Innovation Hub that houses Venture Labs, a reimagined technology transfer office focusing on transforming academic research into viable consumer products and services. 


Centers, Labs, and Initiatives

DAAP Alumni Entrepreneurs

Kristen Tomlan

Kristen Tomlan - Founder and CEO of DŌ, Cookie Dough Confections

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  • App Development
  • Consumer Products
  • Service Design
  • Construction and Fabrication
  • Conceptualization
  • Research Methods
  • Prototyping
  • User Testing
Headshot of Ashley Kubley

Ashley Kubley

Assistant Professor

Headshot of Brooke C Brandewie

Brooke C Brandewie

Assistant Professor

Headshot of Claudia Beatriz Rebola

Claudia Beatriz Rebola

Associate Dean for Research, Associate Professor

Headshot of Renee Seward

Renee Seward

Associate Professor, Communication Design Coordinator

Headshot of Steven J. Doehler

Steven J. Doehler

Associate Professor, Industrial Design Coordinator

For inquires about Creative Entrepreneurship, please contact

Headshot of Steven J. Doehler

Steven J. Doehler

Associate Professor, Industrial Design Coordinator

513-556-4576

Headshot of Brooke C Brandewie

Brooke C Brandewie

Assistant Professor

513-556-3887

Headshot of Claudia Beatriz Rebola

Claudia Beatriz Rebola

Associate Dean for Research, Associate Professor

513-556-4239

For partnerships in alignment with faculty research areas and expertise in Creative Entrepreneurship, please contact:

Headshot of Laura J. Johnson

Laura J. Johnson

Senior Director, Development

513-556-1211