The UW Innovate Network and Discovery to Product (D2P) launched UW–Madison Innovate Week, October 4-8, a series of events designed for campus innovators and offered by entrepreneurial-focused organizations at UW.
“Innovate Week was an outstanding opportunity to showcase the range of resources campus innovators have at their fingertips,” said Andrew Richards, director, D2P. “All week, UW faculty, staff and students had access to unique opportunities to engage with these resources to learn how they can help advance their ideas and reach their entrepreneurial goals.”
UW Innovate Week consisted of events and overviews of resources for faculty, students and staff, including open houses, office hours, information sessions, talks, panels and workshops. Attendees had opportunities to meet campus and alumni entrepreneurs, connect with programs, trainings and resources and learn about entrepreneurship contests on campus. Participants also learned about technology commercialization, cooperative business models and how federal programs and funding opportunities advance innovation.
Programs included the panel Innovation and Entrepreneurship on Campus: From STEM To STEAM and Beyond (WARF Entrepreneurons), a Resource Fair: Learn, Connect, Innovate!, Marketing and Finance Data Resources for Entrepreneurs, and sessions especially for innovators in the sciences, technology and healthcare (NSF I-Corps Info Session, Federal Funding to Develop a Commercial Project), and students (Winning Ways: an Overview of Entrepreneurship Contests on Campus, and PartnerUp!).
Participating organizations included the UW Business Library, the UW Center for Cooperatives, the CS NEST program, Discovery to Product (D2P), Forward BIOLABS, the UW Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR), Isthmus Project/UW Health, the UW Law and Entrepreneurship Clinic, the UW Master of Science in Design + Innovation program, StartUp Learning Community, Varsity Venture Studio, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), the Wisconsin Center for Technology Commercialization (CTC) and the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship.
“We were very proud to partner with these campus leaders to highlight the vast knowledge, tools and resources that are available to UW entrepreneurs,” Richards said. “Whether they’re just getting started with an idea or are already developing a product or service, we are confident the participating campus innovators found plenty of useful information and resources during Innovate Week.”
Learn more about what was offered here: https://innovate.wisc.edu/innovate-week/