Entrepreneurs on the rise in 2020 Tangent, Trinity’s Ideas Workspace, creates an ecosystem for innovation and agility to flourish. Trinity Today meets some of the talented entrepreneurs emerging from Tangent. Trinity is the No1 university in Europe for producing student entrepreneurs for five successive years according to research compiled by private equity company PitchBook. Graduates from Trinity founded more venturebacked companies than graduates from any other European university over the last 13 years. During this time period Trinity produced 251 entrepreneurs and formed 228 venture-backed companies. Building on this success, in 2019 the university established Tangent, Trinity’s Ideas Workspace, housed in a world-class facility, co-located with the new Trinity Business School. For many of today’s global challenges, universities play a pivotal role in finding solutions. Tangent bridges the gap between the university and the wider start-up ecosystem by collaborating with companies large and small who each play active roles in nurturing student entrepreneurs and startups with big dreams. “Tangent is Ireland’s new home for innovators and entrepreneurs. We aim to inspire generations to explore new ideas, embrace a changing future, and pioneer disruptive thinking” says Ken Finnegan, Director of Tangent. Tangent responded promptly to the challenges imposed by COVID-19 by moving all programmes online and by seeking new ways to meaningfully engage with audiences, and so, Tangent TV was born. Tangent TV creates informative, valuable and quickly digestible content for the benefit of its community. Over the past three months, there have been interviews with authors, global innovators, Trinity students and thought leaders. Trinity’s award-winning educational and training programmes such as Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars, which provides students with entrepreneurial support, and Ireland’s first and most successful student start-up accelerator programme, LaunchBox, both form part what is now Tangent. Over the past seven years, LaunchBox has been a key enabler of entrepreneurship at Trinity. The programme provides funding, mentorship, access to alumni and investor networks, coupled with the ideal collaborative environment to launch a new venture. Since beginning in 2013, over 80 student start-ups have emerged from LaunchBox, creating 130 jobs, and raising over €9.2million in investments.