Meet Matthew Fox, the New Director of the Social and Sustainable Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program

NC State Innovation and Entrepreneurship is thrilled to announce Matthew Fox as the new director of the Social and Sustainable Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SSIE) program. Fox has 10 years of experience implementing a think and do approach in entrepreneurship programs at several institutions. 

He is excited to return to the Triangle where he graduated with a Ph.D. in management from Duke University. His research stream focuses on how entrepreneurs use the creation of new firms and technologies to leave a legacy. 

Fox has extended this expertise to build programs that help innovators make a lasting impact. As an assistant professor of entrepreneurship at the University of South Dakota, he helped secure millions of dollars in grant funding and used it to connect the newly launched entrepreneurship major and faculty at schools across the state looking to get their technologies out of the lab and into the market. In 2018, Fox transitioned to the University of Wyoming where he took on the role of associate director of the University of Wyoming Bioscience Hub and assistant professor of entrepreneurship. He served on an interdisciplinary committee to reinvigorate the entrepreneurship curriculum with an emphasis on high-impact experiences including consulting projects and entrepreneurship competitions. Fox helped launch the NSF I-Corps Hub for the Great Plains Region, offering training, mentorship and support for entrepreneurial faculty and graduate students to better understand the market for their innovations. Fox and his students worked on projects involving renewable energy, electric vehicles, medicine, mental health, water purification and education among at-risk populations and contributed to a program that won the Model Emerging Program award from the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE). Most recently, at Lewis and Clark College he launched a new entrepreneurship competition in which students propose businesses that solve problems aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with the winners automatically advancing into an international competition at Babson College.

Now, he steps into the SSIE program to design and develop the program to its highest potential building on the existing strengths across the University and the Innovation and Entrepreneurship program to empower students and ensure preeminence in research, scholarship, innovation and collaboration. 

A newly renamed program

NC State Innovation and Entrepreneurship recently renamed the program to Social and Sustainable Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SSIE), formerly known as Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The name change recognizes NC State’s commitment to sustainability and the ongoing commitment to all forms of making the world a better place. 

This program will still house the Social Innovation Fellows (SIF) program. This year-long, team-based learning experience enables NC State’s social entrepreneurs and innovators to consider their impact on humanity and our planet.