About Innovation Accelerator

Program History and Projects

In Fall 2022, Harper College launched the Innovation Accelerator—a collaborative organization created to design and promote education programs that focus on emerging technologies and meet regional employer demands for a skilled workforce. Since then, we have helped develop and launch career-focused programs in Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence/Cloud Computing.

We are currently developing additional programs that focus on emerging technologies, including semiconductor equipment, nanotechnology, quantum computing, and other related fields. The Innovation Accelerator operates with the support of grant funding from the U.S. Department of Labor and the National Science Foundation.

Emerging Technologies Pathways

The Innovation Accelerator has been tasked with operationalizing the $1.6 million Emerging Technologies Pathways at Harper project, which is funded through the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration's Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grant (SCC3) program.

With this support, we have helped develop a range of curricula that meet individuals where they are and enrich their academic journey—including technical bridge programs for students who need basic skills support, short-term certificates, industry-recognized credentials, credit certificates, and associate degrees.

Enabling Partnerships to Increase Innovation Capacity (EPIIC)

The Innovation Accelerator is leading a $400,000 grant project entitled Generating Regional Innovative Partnerships supported by the National Science Foundation. Harper College is serving as the lead for a consortium of institutions, including Ivy Tech Community College (IN), Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (MS), Washburn University Institute of Technology (KS), and WSU Tech (KS).

The primary goal of this three-year initiative is to build institutional capacity to foster external partnerships for workforce programs, making them more responsive to regional workforce needs. At the forefront of this mission is the development of a scalable, replicable framework for community and technical colleges transitioning from traditional advisory committees to the nationally recognized Business and Industry Leadership Team (BILT) advisory council model.