INFORMATION FOR
At the Center for Socially Responsible Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CSREI), our programs connect students, founders, faculty, and partners to learn, build, and launch, always with impact in mind. From monthly meetups and student-led activities to AI learning labs and upcoming venture competitions, each initiative is designed to help ideas gain traction and create value for profit, people, and planet.
A monthly gathering for local founders, small business owners, and innovators to build authentic connections, learn from subject‑matter experts, and tap into ongoing support across Passaic County’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. The series launched with a kickoff session on September 30 and continues on the last Tuesday of each month at William Paterson University’s Cotsakos College of Business. The inaugural talk—“Entrepreneurship and Intellectual Property in the Age of AI”—featured Matthew Sklar, Partner at McCarter & English.
A new, student‑driven community for bold thinkers who want to build skills, launch ventures, and support one another. The club’s kickoff brought together founding members to shape a calendar of pitch nights, workshops, ideathons, and meetups—all aimed at turning ideas into impact and building a lasting culture of innovation at WP.
If you’re looking to join early and help steer programming from the ground up, the club is actively recruiting founding members and collaborators.
Beginning in October, CSREI is rolling out an AI initiative featuring speaker sessions, hands‑on workshops, a hackathon, and a project showcase that explore responsible, practical applications of AI in entrepreneurship and business. This programming is designed to help students and founders quickly gain working knowledge and apply it to real problems.
Collaborators: Russ Berrie Institute for Professional Sales and Global Business & Finance Institute
CSREI supports faculty‑led projects with local businesses and organizations by forging connections and co‑creating applied research or student‑powered consulting engagements. The Center’s network includes the NJSBDC at William Paterson and the Passaic County Department of Economic Development, enabling faculty to link scholarship to regional economic needs and applied learning.
Entrepreneurs can also collaborate with student teams or faculty researchers, and industry partners are invited to co‑develop research, sponsor challenges, and offer internships through the Center’s engagement pathways.
Throughout the year, CSREI will host hands‑on workshops and innovation labs. These are compact, practical sessions that help you sharpen core startup skills: customer discovery, pitching, financial modeling, go‑to‑market strategy, and impact measurement. These experiences are built to be inclusive, actionable, and tied to real‑world challenges.
CSREI welcomes partnerships with industry, government, departments across WP, and community organizations to co‑develop programming that advances inclusive innovation and economic opportunity. If you’re ready to collaborate on a session, mentorship track, or strategic initiative, we’d love to talk.
