In 1994, the Spiro Institute was launched with a gift of $1.5 Million by Mr. and Mrs. Arthur M. Spiro, and in 1996 enjoyed its first full year of operations. Now, over twenty years later, the Spiro Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership is a thriving unit on campus with academic research and service programs that incorporate students and faculty from all colleges on campus. Spiro IFEL also extends the work of the university to the community through project-based activities with inventors, entrepreneurs, and established companies representing an entrepreneurial spirit on the Clemson University campus. Our guiding beliefs at SIFEL are:

• We believe that students from all disciplines should have access to educational opportunities and experiences in entrepreneurial leadership.
• We believe that students learn best through hands-on experiences coupled with academic instruction. We build all of our academic initiatives around service learning projects and field experiences.
• Whereas all entrepreneurial activity is of interest to us and will be supported, we are cultivating expertise in technology entrepreneurship to complement Clemson's strengths in technology development within agriculture, engineering, and the sciences.
• We are committed to providing outreach assistance to pre-ventures, early ventures, and established firms through service-learning projects that match students with entrepreneurs and inventors, and through volunteer mentors who provide service on behalf of the Institute.
• We are committed to collaborations with other groups within the university and in the region to promote economic development through innovation and entrepreneurial activity.