Doing work that matters.
We bring more human-centered ideas to life. We embrace cross-disciplinary collaborations from the TCU community and beyond. We use innovation frameworks to help students create socially impactful ideas by increasing their creative confidence and helping them explore creative options.

Opportunities
Life Design Courses
One credit, 8-week courses that help students of any age to explore what they want to do while here at TCU and beyond, using human-centered design principles.
Pitch Your Passion Sessions
Opportunities for students to pitch initial ideas and get feedback. We meet every other Friday. For more information and book a meeting, email Cedric James at c.o.james@tcu.edu.
Social Impact Design Challenge
Every December, we host an event where students can showcase their social innovation ideas. For more information, mail Cedric James at c.o.james@tcu.edu.
In 2010, Eric Simanek, the Robert A. Welch Chair of Chemistry, was appointed as the first director of Idea Factory by Dean Demitrius Kouris from the TCU College of Science & Engineering. Idea Factory was funded by a Vision in Action grant (VIA) and a National Science Foundation grant. With the support of Dean Phil Hartman, dean of the TCU College of Science & Engineering secured space in Rees-Jones Hall, a state-of-the-art instructional building in the heart of the university’s Intellectual Commons. Currently, Idea Factory is part of the TCU Neeley School of Business with space in Rees-Jones Hall and is under the direction of Stacy Landreth Grau, professor of professional practice in entrepreneurship and innovation, and Cedric James, associate director, who has been with Idea Factory since its inception.
Thank you to the following organizations for supporting our work:
- TCU College of Science & Engineering (early support and incubation for Idea Factory)
- TCU’s Vision in Action fund (early financial support)
- The National Science Foundation (funding the Pangea Mat and Cutter, Dance of the Continents and Plate Detective)
- TCU Neeley School of Business and the Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovation
- TCU (funding and space)
- Robert A. Welch (early support for Eric Simanek’s time to pursue Idea Factory initiatives)