Creative Entrepreneurship
About the 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.
Co-op Experience
Joseph Curtsinger (pictured with his capstone project "Minnow") was mentored by Kyle Buzzard, co-founder of Glidance, Inc.
The College of DAAP is developing a new CO-OP experience designed to foster creativity and entrepreneurial spirit among students. This program aims to help students transform imaginative ideas into viable business ventures.
Central to this experience are the alumni entrepreneurs, who serve as mentors by leveraging their extensive networks and providing invaluable education on transforming concepts into actionable projects. This initiative is a collaborative effort between DAAP's School of Design, Experiential Learning, and Cooperative Education (ELCE) and is further bolstered by the alumni who generously open their studios to this unique experience.
Centers, Labs, and Initiatives
DAAP Alumni Entrepreneurs
- App Development
- Consumer Products
- Service Design
- Construction and Fabrication
- Conceptualization
- Research Methods
- Prototyping
- User Testing
Steven J. Doehler,
Associate Professor, Industrial Design Coordinator
Ashley Kubley,
Associate Director Associate Professor
Claudia Beatriz Rebola,
Associate Dean for Research, Associate Professor
Renee Seward-Nettle,
Associate Professor, Communication Design Coordinator
Jenny Roesel Ustick,
Associate Professor
For inquires about Creative Entrepreneurship, please contact
Steven J. Doehler,
Associate Professor, Industrial Design Coordinator
513-556-4576
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:
