UW–Madison Innovate Week (Sept. 23-27) is for campus innovators—faculty, students, and staff—who want to maximize impact for research, turn an idea into a product or service, start a company or organization, or take inspiration from the entrepreneurial mindset. Talks, panels, and workshops will address healthcare, technology commercialization, artificial intelligence, mobile games, fusion, media and advertising, and fundraising for early-stage startups.
Innovate Week is coordinated by Discovery to Product (D2P) and the UW Innovate Network and partners, all of which offer training, funding and mentoring to advance campus innovation, entrepreneurship, and research commercialization.
Registration is open for Innovate Week events, including:
- Wisconsin Entrepreneurs Showcase, featuring the entrepreneurial journeys of three exceptional Badger alumni, from an entrepreneur in the media and advertising industry who co-founded KeyTV with Keke Palmer, to a business founder and operator specializing in mobile apps, e-commerce, ad-tech, and games, including Disney Heroes and DragonSoul, to an accomplished medical device industry executive who successfully commercializes novel therapies on a global basis.
- AI Across the Spectrum of Innovation, an engaging panel discussion on the potential for AI integration into innovation practice, featuring a panel of multi-hyphenate design innovators across engineering, technology, and art – and ChatGPT itself as a panelist.
- Fusion Forward: Commercializing Fusion Technology in Wisconsin. Wisconsin is well positioned to become an economic hub for this groundbreaking technology; hear from UW spinouts (SHINE Technologies, Realta Fusion, and Type One Energy) and UW researchers including a 2024 U.S. Science Envoy, as they share visions and challenges for bringing fusion technology to market.
- How Open Source is Fostering Innovation in AI. Hear from AI leaders at Google, Lightning AI, and Higgsfield AI about how AI initiatives are leveraging open source technologies for maximum impact and growth.
- Moving your Tech out of Academia, an interactive panel designed for faculty, graduate students, staff, postdocs, and other tech innovators pursuing research they hope to commercialize. Featuring UW spinout panelists in biotechnology, personalized medtech, semiconductor technology, and renewable energy.
- Makeathon 2024. Join the UW Makerspace for a hands-on workshop building Toddler Mobility Trainers – customized, small wheelchairs designed to give young children the joy of independent movement. All students, faculty, staff, and alumni from UW–Madison welcome; no experience needed.
- NSF I-Corps Pathways to Impact— Building your Idea Network, an interactive workshop that will help participants develop “idea networks” to support and propel their ideas forward using the entrepreneurial mindset.
- Fundraising for Early-Stage Startups. Hear from early-stage investors who have worked with UW startups, what they look for in founders and teams, and their advice on when and how to connect.
- NIH SBIR/STTR: Proposal Preparation Intensive, a daylong workshop for health and medicine innovators to learn the essentials of SBIR/STTR funding and how to craft a competitive proposal that meets the unique requirements of the NIH.
- D2P SEED Grant Recipients Announcement. Celebrate the announcement of funding for emerging technologies from seven UW–Madison startups, boosted by a matching grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC).
- Healthcare Innovation Office Hours with the Isthmus Project, UW Health’s Innovation Hub.
All events are free of charge and open to UW–Madison faculty, students, staff, and affiliates, and some events are also open to the public. See the event listings at https://innovate.wisc.edu/innovate-week/ for details.
Participating organizations and programs offering events include Innovate Network members and partners: Center for Technology Commercialization (CTC), Discovery to Product (D2P), Grainger Engineering Design Innovation Lab, Isthmus Project/UW Health, Master of Science in Design + Innovation program, Open Source Program Office of the Data Science Institute, StartUp Learning Community, Technology Entrepreneurship Office (TEO), Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship and the Wisconsin Energy Institute (WEI).
“Innovate Week is one of the ways that Discovery to Product (D2P) and UW’s Innovate Network serve as the front door to the campus entrepreneurial ecosystem,” said Abram Becker, interim director of D2P. “It’s a terrific opportunity for campus innovators to hear from and connect with entrepreneurs, experts, programs, and resources, and to be inspired to advance innovations to impact.”
Event and registration information is available at https://innovate.wisc.edu/innovate-week/.
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ABOUT DISCOVERY TO PRODUCT (D2P)
Discovery to Product (D2P), the cross-campus innovation and entrepreneurship office within the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research (OVCR), provides entrepreneurial training programs, direct mentoring, and grants to campus innovators. D2P annually serves 330 UW faculty, staff and students, provides over $1.4 million in funding, and has helped launch or grow more than 140 UW startups.
ABOUT THE UW INNOVATE NETWORK
The Innovate Network is a collective group of university and affiliate entrepreneurial support organizations working to enhance collaboration, support campus innovators, and foster a campus culture of entrepreneurship. The Innovate Network is coordinated by UW Discovery to Product (D2P).