Advice for entrepreneurs on how to improve or launch a startup Elana Fine is the managing director at the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business. She's here to take your questions about securing funding, building your customer base, how the entrepreneurship landscape looks in this region, and more.

Disease Diagnostic Group, maker of an inexpensive handheld device that can diagnose malaria in one minute, was named the winner of the 2014 Cupid’s Cup Business Competition.

Elana knows a bright idea when she sees one. Elana Fine, Dingman’s powerhouse leader and “Tech Titan,” is an invaluable resource to the startups that flock to the center. She started her career in investment banking and is now personally invested in growing student entrepreneurs and encouraging everyone to think entrepreneurially. We embody the spirit of entrepreneurship. We Are Smith. Learn more about Elana in her We Are Smith interview. What career achievement makes you most proud?

Thursday, August 7, 2014, 7:30 p.m. | Sunday, August 10, 2014, 7:30 a.m. In June, electric car maker Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk announced the company was removing its patents in “the spirit of the open source movement, for the advancement of electric vehicle technology.” What does a move like this mean for the electric car industry and entrepreneurship in general?

Teams Go from Zero to Grand Opening in Two Weeks Orientation starts with a shock for incoming full-time MBA students looking for traditional lectures at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. Instead of talking about business, orientation leaders divide students into teams and tell them to start one.

The Sanity Behind Tesla’s Giveaway of Patented Technology Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk recently shook up the auto industry with a pledge to give away the company’s electric car patents for free. Rajshree Agarwal, the Rudolph P. Lamone Chair and professor in Entrepreneurship at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, calls the move a win for both the company and industry. Already, Indian automaker Mahindra has announced plans to pursue Tesla’s now-open secrets to advance its own electric vehicles.

University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business and Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management Host 9th Annual Event  College Park, Md. – June 11, 2014 – MBA students from the United States, China and Israel pitched their ideas for businesses in China, vying for $2,750 in cash prizes from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and Peking University in the 2014 China Business Model Competition.

University of Maryland students and not just learning about entrepreneurship this semester – they are hard at work starting and growing their own businesses. And for the first time, they are also getting course credit to do so.

The University of Maryland offers a set of “Fearless Ideas” courses through its Academy for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (AIE), a signature initiative to infuse the university with a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship across all colleges, building on the institution's excellence as a research university. The Robert H. Smith School of Business will offer four Fearless Ideas courses in fall 2014:

On March 28, 2014, at the North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center in Bethesda, Md., students, faculty and business professionals met for the third annual Smith School Business Summit.  This year’s theme looked at innovation as an essential building block for the prosperity and survival of corporations. With more than 600 registered attendants, it was the largest Summit yet.