My name is Adam Ferris and I will be blogging on AnnArbor.com about entrepreneurial activities on campus and my thoughts on entrepreneurialism at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor and in the state. I want to share my story with you to give context to my perspective.

I was born in Chicago into a family of diverse culture - an American-Lebanese father and a Brazilian-Lebanese mother, and grew up in Dubai, United Arab Emirates since the age of two. After people learn this about me, naturally the first question they ask is, “Why do you have an American accent?” But, more importantly, the second question is, Why Michigan?

Growing up around fast-paced business and with a fascination for science and technology, I wanted to be in a university renowned for its business and engineering. The University of Michigan was and still is one of the best in the nation in that respect, but the Ross School of Business and the College of Engineering (CoE) could not have been more distant from each other than they were during my freshman year. The entrepreneurial spirit was not pervasive, let alone apparent, on campus given the potential synergy that I saw between the two schools.

I wanted to do something about it. That was when I came across a group of passionate students from a newly formed student organization called MPowered. We wanted to raise the entrepreneurial spirit on campus and bridge the gaps among the colleges and schools to breed more collaboration and innovation.

Over the past two years we have been very successful, thanks to the support we have received from the Center for Entrepreneurship and other sponsors. We currently have a following of over 2,600 people on our newsletter, and reach out to over 4,000 students each semester through our competitions and events. We are connected with over 50 student startups and have helped give out over $300,000 to stimulate ideas and further businesses.

The results are noticeable. An increasing number of students from all levels are coming to us for help with their ideas and ventures, and engineering professors are saying their students are demanding more entrepreneurship-related material in their courses and curriculum.

We are working hard to keep the momentum going. We are hosting one of the largest competitions on campus again this fall called 1000 Pitches. It is aimed at generating over 1000 innovative business and product ideas from U-M students which fit into 8 main categories, ranging from Social Entrepreneurship to Michigan Matters. The best pitch in each category wins $1000. I encourage you to check out the website at www.1000pitches.com.

The University and Ann Arbor can potentially be the source for Michigan’s recovery. We need more people to be creative and explore new industries. The only way to do that is through the spirit of entrepreneurship.

I hope my blog will give you insight on the development of entrepreneurship at our campus, city and state and where it is heading.

I look forward to blogging for you and reading your comments.

Adam Ferris is vice president of MPowered. He will be blogging about entrepreneurship for AnnArbor.com and can be reached at ahferris@umich.edu.