On Thursday, October 20, a consortium of universities will come together for a singular Innovation Connection networking event highlighting, and rewarding, the accomplishments of student innovators. (Watch a video of student entrepreneurs here.)
The Innovation Connection is the brainchild of a small group of entrepreneurial-minded academics and innovators. Since 2009, the group has presented monthly networking functions aimed at catalyzing business collaborations among university researchers and students, business development advisors, intellectual property lawyers, incubation experts, personnel from the UConn R&D Corporation and the Office of Technology Commercialization, and state economic and business development offices.
This month’s event, hosted by Central Connecticut State University’s School of Business and the Institute for Technology and Business Development, will take place at the CCSU campus and include a seminar on “Selling to Investors, Customers & the Government,” followed by a student poster competition.
During the first-ever student poster competition, the top five student innovators from each of the participating colleges and universities will discuss their bright commercial idea informally with attendees, and visitors will “invest” in their top picks using “mock” currency. Top vote getters will proceed to the November Innovation Connection (to be hosted by ECSU), where they will compete for the opportunity to receive in-kind support and possible seed funding. All of the student posters will be hosted electronically on the iHub.
The collaborating universities are the University of Connecticut, Central Connecticut State University, Eastern Connecticut State University and the University of Hartford.
Robin Bienemann, Entrepreneur in Residence in the School of Engineering at UConn, said “We are thrilled to be taking the Innovation Connection to the next level. This is the first time that Connecticut’s leading colleges and universities have collaborated to celebrate the ingenuity of our college age students. We encourage everyone to come and meet these bright young innovators, network and explore the CCSU campus.”
Event details:
| Date: | Thursday, October 20th, 2011 |
| Location: | Central Connecticut State University CCSU (1615 Stanley Street, New Britain, CT 06050; 860-832-2278) |
| Parking: | The Student Center lot or the Student Center Garage (off Ella Grasso Blvd.) can be used for Parking (click on parking tab within interactive campus map) |
| Agenda: | 3-4 p.m. Selling to Investors, Customers and the Government seminar 4-6 p.m. Student Innovation Poster Competition (Constitution Room, 2nd floor of Memorial Hall) and Networking |
To learn more, please see the networking event flyer. Please RSVP for this event.
