EEE Nexus: Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Engineering

Where business strategy meets engineering execution.

The EEE Nexus brings business and engineering students together to take an idea from concept, to working prototype, to an evidence-based decision about what to do next.

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Watch the 25-second film

EEE Nexus logo: three circles, each holding the letter E, joined by gold bars that form the letter N and end in an upward arrow.
The Innovation Lab: an open room with rolling workbenches, a soldering station with fume extractors, a laser cutter, a drill press and a row of 3D printers beside a large window.
The Innovation Lab, room DSB 123

The EEE Nexus in 25 seconds.

Read the words spoken in the film

Business strategy. Engineering execution.

Two disciplines. One team.

Talk to fifteen customers. Reach the buyers. Build a prototype. Test the market. Then make the call: go, or pivot.

All in the Innovation Lab: a place to make things.

The Triple-E Nexus. Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Engineering.

Two disciplines, one team

The Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Engineering (EEE) Nexus is the place where business and engineering overlap. Students from both sides work in mixed teams on real ventures. They talk to customers, build a prototype, test it against the market, and then make a clear call: go ahead, or change direction.

The EEE Nexus is a joint effort of the Doermer School of Business and the Systems Engineering Center at Purdue Fort Wayne.

Our mission

The Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Engineering Nexus (EEE Nexus) prepares students to become versatile enterprise innovators by bridging business strategy and engineering execution through enterprise engineering, combining immersive prototyping, rapid validation, and interdisciplinary venture development.

What we set out to do

  • Full-lifecycle immersion

    Students work through the whole journey, from the first idea and business model through prototyping and market launch.

  • Interdisciplinary collaboration

    Business and engineering students work side by side in cross-functional teams, the way companies actually build things.

  • Industry engagement

    Regional companies bring sponsored challenges, so teams work on problems that matter outside the classroom.

Learn by building a venture

The venture design course runs as a practice-based venture studio for teams of business and engineering students. Before a team can present, it has to reach the evidence floor.

  1. 1
    idea

    A problem worth solving and a first business model.

  2. 15
    customer interviews

    Logged conversations with the people the idea is for.

  3. 2
    economic buyers contacted

    The people who would decide to pay for it.

  4. 1
    prototype

    Built with the Innovation Lab's tools on hand.

  5. 1
    market test

    A check that people actually want it.

  6. Go or pivot

    The team defends a written recommendation: go ahead, or change direction. It is a recommendation, not a sale. The course ends with a public pitch night.

What you can take

  • EEE Certificate

    Now available

    An undergraduate certificate open to students in any major. It combines a course in generating and pitching ideas, a venture-design course, and electives. See the certificate details in the Purdue Fort Wayne catalog.

  • Venture design course

    The venture studio described above. Teams gather evidence, defend a go-or-pivot recommendation, and finish with a public pitch night.

  • Graduate pathway

    In development

    Systems engineering coursework at the graduate level, connected to the work of the Nexus.

Round tables with chairs for team work, in front of floor-to-ceiling windows looking out on a snowy lawn.
Tables set up for team work

A classroom and a place to make things

The EEE Nexus is two rooms, side by side, on the first floor of the Doermer School of Business building.

  • DSB 121

    The classroom

    The larger of the two rooms, used for classes and events.

  • DSB 123

    The Innovation Lab

    A hands-on prototyping lab for groups of up to about 24 people. Visit the Innovation Lab site.

In the Innovation Lab

  • Enclosed 3D printers
  • A laser cutter
  • A circuit-board (PCB) printer
  • Soldering and electronics stations with test equipment
  • A drill press
  • Design and simulation software, including SolidWorks, Fusion, Altium and KiCad
  • Four enclosed 3D printers on two rolling workbenches, with spools of filament on top.
    3D printers
  • A white desktop laser cutter on a workbench, with a drill press and 3D printers on the benches beyond it.
    Laser cutter and drill press
  • A desktop circuit-board printer on a table, with a finished green circuit board in front of it.
    Circuit-board printer

Bring your company into the room

We work with companies and organizations across the region. There are three ways to get involved.

  • Workshops for your team

    Leadership and systems-engineering workshops for company teams, held in the Innovation Lab.

  • Sponsored design challenges

    Bring a real problem. A mixed team of business and engineering students works on it and reports back with evidence.

  • Prototyping and talent

    Access to prototyping equipment, and a chance to work alongside students who are ready to build.

Find us

EEE Nexus, rooms DSB 121 and DSB 123
First floor, Doermer School of Business building
Purdue Fort Wayne campus
Fort Wayne, Indiana