C•CUBE toolkit was inspired by work undertaken by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation as well as the Association for Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), the International Business Innovation Alliance (InBIA), the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE), the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE), the University Economic Development Association (UEDA), and many other organizations and advocates nationwide. These groups are unified in the realization that colleges and universities are often an untapped resource in supporting ecosystem building. They have a shared vision in which all higher education institutions will have the tools and opportunities to develop ecosystem mindsets and tools to incorporate practices into their work that advance entrepreneurship ecosystems, including helping to build strong collaborations among ecosystem partners. Higher education has a key role in increasing prosperity and building thriving communities. The C•CUBE toolkit can help.

A parallel component of this vision is that we can only do this together, and that by building a network of networks—practitioners and organizations engaged in this work nationwide—the work can be amplified and enhanced. That’s why it’s important that you not only use the toolkit in your local efforts, but that you also engage in the national conversation by joining our C•CUBE community. In some ways, building successful ecosystems is a question of initiating and supporting great conversations to spark successful collaboration. We hope that the toolkit provides the inspiration and resources to begin this, and that our LinkedIn group provides a platform to sustain the national conversation.