On December 16th, UConn alumnus, inventor and entrepreneur Eric Knight joined the Springboard Program at UConn as Manager and Entrepreneur in Residence. Springboard is a joint program of the School of Engineering, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the Office of Technology Commercialization.
As Manager of the Springboard team, Eric will share his expertise and will advise faculty and students to identify key markets and develop business cases for commercial services and products resulting from their expertise and research. Contact Eric at eric.knight@engr.uconn.edu or by phone at (860) 486-6967.
The founder and President of Remarkable Technologies and a serial entrepreneur, Eric earned his B.S. in Communication Sciences at UConn. In the 1980s, he developed a dial-up computer system that grew to nearly 10,000 subscribers from over 70 countries, and accepted online credit-card orders years before the practice of e-commerce became widespread. In 1986 and 1987, he was honored with the esteemed Edison Award for excellence in technology and communications.
In 1996, Eric founded Remarkable Technologies and, concurrently, served as Vice President and Director of Marketing at Outrider, an international interactive agency. Remarkable Technologies focuses on “providing innovative products and services that enhance business and empower people.”
Throughout his career, Eric has conceived and commercialized diverse products and services. Among his most popular creations is the PARA-SHIRT® wind-resistance training shirt, which was featured as one of the top inventions in America by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the Intellectual Property Owners Association.
In 2004, Eric launched a business, UP Aerospace, Inc., which provides round-trip space flights for virtually any kind of payload. In 2007, UP Aerospace flew into space 50 student experiments from around the world, numerous commercial and scientific payloads, and the cremated remains of Star Trek’s James Doohan, who played “Scotty,” and NASA astronaut and pioneer L. Gordon Cooper.
His inventions have garnered widespread popular interest, earning him guest appearances on numerous television programs – including segments on CNN, The Discovery Channel, and the BBC – and talk shows, the most notable of which was the Late Show with David Letterman.
