PIE's Progress
Professor David Olson on how the Program on Innovation and Entrepreneurship grew and where it's headed.
Program on Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Program on Innovation & Entrepreneurship
The Program on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (PIE) draws upon the intellectual capital of its faculty and the energy of its talented students to build bridges between BC Law and outside innovation and entrepreneurship communities. PIE frames issues in business and innovation in terms of serving society, including equality of access to opportunities, social mobility, and human and economic development. PIE supports both academic research and student work and hosts speakers, conferences, and symposia in Boston and other cities.
PIE events facilitate discussion of pressing innovation, business, and entrepreneurship law challenges by gathering the expertise of lawyers, judges, businesspersons, regulators, and academics, and works with affiliated student groups to sponsor events of interest to students and to facilitate student research opportunities.
News Highlights
Upcoming Events
Platinum Sponsors
Visit Ropes & Gray
Silver Sponsors
Visit WilmerHale
Bronze Sponsors
Visit Cooley
Visit Goodwin Procter
Visit Kirkland & Ellis
Visit Latham & Watkins
Visit Morrison Foerster
Visit Orrick
Visit wilson Sonsini
Experiential Opportunities
Students interested in innovation and entrepreneurship have opportunities to perform supervised legal work in two separate Boston College Law School Clinics focused on innovation and entrepreneurship, the Community Enterprise Clinic and the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Clinic.
Student Groups
Associated student organizations include:
- Art Law Society
- Business Law Society
- Black Law Students Association
- Health Law Society
- Intellectual Property and Technology Forum
- LAMBDA
- Real Estate Law Society
- Space Law Society
- Sports and Entertainment Law Society
- Women's Law Center
About the Program on Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Academic Impact
The Program on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (PIE) focuses on legal issues arising in the areas of innovation and entrepreneurship, considered broadly. The Program brings together relevant BC faculty members, outside academics, lawyers, regulators, and businesspersons to consider and address important issues affecting innovation and entrepreneurship. The Program builds on and extends BC Law’s existing academic strengths in areas such as intellectual property, entrepreneurship, business law, and experiential learning. The Program sponsors speakers, discussions, conferences, and symposia at BC Law, in Boston, and in other cities. The program also supports academic research and exchange.
Student Opportunities
The Program on Innovation and Entrepreneurship Tethered Externship Seminar allows students to participate in externships in the legal departments of innovative and entrepreneurial companies and law firms in the Greater Boston area. The PIE classroom seminar to which the externships are tethered includes relevant legal instruction, student PIE projects, and a written work requirement.
PIE also works with affiliated student groups to plan and sponsor events of interest to BC law students. Through these collaborations, PIE helps bring to campus speakers who address cutting-edge legal issues in the areas of innovation and entrepreneurship. PIE also provides opportunities for students to work directly with the program on programs and legal research.
Engagement and Service of the Business and Legal Communities
Through PIE, BC Law engages with the legal and business communities to discuss important issues in the fields of innovation and entrepreneurship. PIE programs allow lawyers, businesspersons, regulators, and academics to discuss critical legal issues and consider new and innovative solutions to pressing innovation, business, and entrepreneurship law challenges. This exchange not only enriches the academic work of the law school, it also advances BC Law’s mission of service to the legal community and the greater world. Accordingly, PIE frames issues in business and innovation in terms of serving society, including consideration of equal access to opportunities, facilitation of social mobility, and human and economic development.
