OCTOBER 20, 2020 — Venture capitalist Timothy Draper and his wife, Melissa, have committed $1 million to establish the Draper Data Science Business Plan Competition. The competition adds yet another innovative component to the new UTSA School of Data Science. The Drapers also plan to donate a hologram and programming to the university once it becomes available.
Hosted at UTSA beginning in 2021, the Draper Data Science Business Plan Competition will be open to college students from across the world and will further prepare them for careers in high demand, teaching them to be disruptors and leaders of their fields.
Teams will be encouraged to become familiar with a business model canvas and produce a product, service, web/mobile app, or a social impact idea that has the potential to change the world in which we live and work.
For some students, substantial monetary awards have supported the product development of their winning submissions post-competition. Planning for the competition is under way including an application process, eligibility, competition tracks, rules and guidelines, and faculty and community engagement.
“This gift will be transformational for UTSA and the School of Data Science as we launch the next generation of entrepreneurs,” said UTSA President Taylor Eighmy. “The competition is sure to attract the world’s greatest young minds, and produce ideas that will change our world for the better. This partnership opens many new doors of opportunity and exemplifies the value of activating innovation in our students.”
Timothy Draper is a third-generation venture capitalist and the founder of Draper University. His investments in Skype, Tesla, SpaceX, Hotmail, Twitch, Robinhood and more have built his reputation as a world-renowned tech investor. The Draper Data Science Business Plan Competition represents Draper’s first gift to the university and will generate invaluable opportunities for students who are interested in entrepreneurship and tech innovation.
“Data science will drive the future of artificial intelligence, deep learning, and machine learning. It brings together academics from statistics, computer science, robotics, electrical engineering, physics, bitcoin, surveillance and psychology. As AI takes all the mundane parts of everyone’s job, it will span industries as disparate as autonomous vehicles, insurance, farming, defense, venture capital and governing,” Draper said.
“Data Science will drive the greatest transformations of the next few decades, and UTSA is leading the way toward training the next generation of data sciences. Business plan competitions tend to encourage and attract those people who are going to make that dent in the universe. Melissa and I have found these competitions to be a magnet for progress and change,” Draper added.
A bold vision for San Antonio’s downtown district is driving university and community leaders to build a knowledge economy and tech ecosystem for the city. The UTSA School of Data Science will position San Antonio as a national leader in cybersecurity and data science, attract government and industry partners, produce a highly skilled workforce, drive economic development, and create a vibrant downtown.
In 2018, Graham Weston, local business leader and co-chair of UTSA’s Campaign Leadership Council, made a $15 million gift to support the School of Data Science, saying “The School of Data Science will bring thousands of the most innovative students, faculty and researchers together and will accelerate everything else in our downtown tech ecosystem.”
Similar competitions established by Timothy and Melissa Draper at Draper University and Smith College have proven widely successful, creating a competitive learning environment for students.UTSA Today is produced by University Communications and Marketing, the official news source of The University of Texas at San Antonio. Send your feedback to news@utsa.edu. Keep up-to-date on UTSA news by visiting UTSA Today. Connect with UTSA online at Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram.
Part III of Cultivating Wellness series will focus on looking after your own mental health, stress in the workplace, building resilience in yourself and your team and managing personal energy.
Virtual EventVictory celebrations in San Antonio always include honking car horns, and we are carrying that tradition over to UTSA. Graduates are encouraged to bring someone along to drive, so they can wave and take photos from their vehicle. To ensure safety everyone is encouraged remain in their vehicles and limit their celebration to one car per graduate. All cars must begin at the parade starting point and stay in line as the drive goes through campus. Share your videos on social media using #UTSAGrad20 for a chance to be featured on our channels.
UTSA Main CampusAt UTSA, Commencement is more than a ceremony. It’s a celebration, a defining moment, of the diligence, dedication and collaborations from this educational community which culminate in earning that significant degree.
Virtual EventYou will learn great safety tips to keep you and your families safe for everyday potential hazards as well as during emergency situations, such as severe weather or flooding. Please email BePrepared@utsa.edu for further questions.
Virtual EventAs a continuation of the great discussion from the "Coping on the Fly" webinar in early summer, Mary McNaughton-Cassil, Professor of Psychology and Donna Edmondson, the University Ombuds are providing four 30-minute interactive webinars. The topics will address workplace issues facing faculty and staff such as communication and change, social support, burnout and compassion fatigue, and holiday stress.
Virtual EventThe University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.
UTSA is a proud Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) as designated by the U.S. Department of Education.
The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to ending generations of discrimination and inequity. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.
