NCSU, Southern Capitol Ventures team up to match students, Triangle tech firms

Raleigh, N.C. — Southern Capitol Ventures, based in Raleigh, is teaming up with the North Carolina State University Engineering Entrepreneurs Program to help match students with technology firms in the region.

The first event is Tuesday. Another is scheduled for Oct. 7. More than 30 students are expected to participate.

Students will find out more about Southern Capitol Ventures as well as ChannelAdvisor, Canvas On Demand, the Council for Entrepreneurial Development, Cisco, Cree, Digitalsmiths, Hutchison Law Group, iContact, Inspire Pharmaceuticals, ReverbNation, SciQuest and Square 1 Bank.

“We’re excited to host EEP students at ChannelAdvisor and appreciate the opportunity to show them some of the innovation and new technologies being developed in North Carolina,” said Scot Wingo, chief executive officer and founder of ChannelAdvisor, an e-commerce services provider.

Backers say the initiative is similar to an NCSU program that includes a trip to Silicon Valley for students. The annual trek includes tours at such firms as Apple, Google and Facebook, along with investment firm Kleiner Perkins. NCSU has put on the trip each of the past five years.

"Last year, Bill Campbell, the chairman of Intuit, heard we were coming to town and changed his schedule so that he could meet with our students,” said Tom Miller, vice provost for distance education and learning technology and a professor of electrical and computer engineering at NCSU, said. “I realized then that we should be giving our students the opportunity to interact with the entrepreneurial companies and thought leaders in our state.”