A new curriculum to inspire leadership and innovation through high-potential employees arrived in Denver.

Dubbing it a “new contemporary operating brand,” The Cable Center on the University of Denver campus Thursday announced a new name and expanded programming with Syndeo Institute. It aims to serve as a space for discovery, education, and collaboration for “connectivity,” media, entertainment, and technology industries, according to a press release.

While the Cable Center is on DU’s campus, it’s not affiliated with the Daniels  College of Business and is an independent non-profit organization.

The Syndeo Institute’s goal is to accelerate the growth of workforce development programs to address “critical needs” of the C-Suite and human resource leaders targeting high potential employees, according to the announcement. This will include programming to support employee retention, “intrapreneurship” (entrepreneurship in an existing organization) and talent pipeline development.

Diane Christman, president and CEO of Syndeo Institute at The Cable Center, said this establishes a place to educate continuing generations of innovators.  Through online and in-person connections, officials said the center serves as a place to “exchange ideas, share resources, and build top performers who will keep organizations and industry on the front lines of innovation.”

“During the past few years, we’ve been charting what’s next to bridge our incredible entrepreneurial foundation to an innovation-focused future,” Christman said in the release. “We take that major step with the introduction of Syndeo Institute, where leaders come together to solve challenges for the future and push the boundaries of connectivity innovation.”

“Today, the industry is made up of a lot fewer companies, with more people, doing a lot more technologically advanced innovation,” Michael Willner, chair and CEO of Penthera Partners and chair of Syndeo Institute at The Cable Center Board of Directors, said in the release.

“Syndeo Institute was conceived as a naming opportunity for the innovative programs that we deliver to support a fast-moving industry, in relation to the physical structure of The Cable Center where these programs reside, and which will always honor the history of the connectivity industry with its collections and exhibits,” Willner said.

According to a survey of HR professionals by the Institute, 70% of respondents are concerned about losing employees for lack of professional training or career planning.

“Under the banner of Syndeo Institute is a new framework, one that embodies our focus on change, connection, and collaboration, alongside the innovators and entrepreneurs who built our industry,” Bridget Baker, CEO of Baker Media and member of Syndeo Institute at The Cable Center Board of Directors, said in the release. 

There will be an annual Syndeo Institute Symposium for leaders to learn from each other and to strengthen the industry. On a more regular basis, the Syndeo Institute’s Intrapreneurship Academy will have a “reinvention of training modalities.”

In November 1988, Denver cable magnate Bill Daniels gave DU an $11 million gift — its largest ever. Syndeo Institute at The Cable Center will continue to hold a collection of historical assets, memorabilia and oral histories and serves as a location to honor achievements in specific industries.