A better job search system. Destroyed iPhones. Email without boundaries. Bacon. Those were some of the business ideas from five student businesses who went head-to-head for $3,500 in funding in the fall Pitch Dingman Competition, Thursday, Nov. 21 at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.  In the end, SellMyOldTech.Com ($2,000 first prize) came out on top after pitching a panel of judges and an audience of students, faculty, staff and alumni. QuickMailCheck captured second place ($1,000) and the Audience Choice award ($500).

During the week of November 18–22, the Smith School will participate as a partner in Global Entrepreneurship Week – the world’s largest celebration of innovators and job creators who launch startups that bring ideas to life, drive economic growth and expand human welfare.

How to increase innovation in any organization Entrepreneurship goes beyond starting and running new businesses. All organizations need people who think like entrepreneurs to innovate, move forward and stay ahead.

In this edition of Smith Business Close-Up with the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, host Jeff Salkin sits down with Elana Fine, managing director of the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, to talk about startups, innovation and the University of Maryland’s community of entrepreneurs. 

Seth Goldman, Founder and 'TEO' of Honest Tea, spoke to students of the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business on October 15, 2013. 

Avid sports fans Derek Shewmon, MBA ’09, and Federico Campbell, MBA ’09, had often found themselves watching games from the “nosebleed section,” and wondering why so many great seats remained empty throughout the game. They were classmates in Smith’s part-time MBA program in Washington in 2009 when that simple observation turned into a business idea.

Kevin Plank '96, founder and CEO of Under Armour, is looking for the nation's most passionate student entrepreneurs. Do you have what it takes? For the ninth year, Plank is partnering with the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business to host one of the nation's toughest business competitions. There's $115K on the line, and how does access to Kevin Plank's professional network sound?

Rajshree Agarwal, academic director at the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship and the Rudy Lamone Chaired Professor in Entrepreneurship and Strategy at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, talks about the rationale behind teaching entrepreneurship and innovation at a university. 

The University of Maryland has once again made The Princeton Review's list of the country's top entrepreneurship programs. In the 2014 list of the "Top 50 Schools For Entrepreneurship Programs," published in Entrepreneur magazine, UMD ranks No. 15 for its undergraduate program. The university also ranks No. 16 for its graduate program, up eight spots from the 2013 rankings.

The 2013 Smith Marketplace challenged MBAs to create and operate a business in their very first week on campus as part of orientation. They worked in teams of five and had $150 to get their business off the ground.