ForgeBee ForgeBee has developed a system to allow the manufacture of single-use units of highly efficient honey bees for pollination in place of full sized colonies. This is more cost effective and resource efficient than the current model, which relies upon the use of whole colonies that are reused until colony failure.
Ferritiva jeffrey@ferritiva.com 4087173010 60 Hazelwood Drive, Champaign Ferritiva develops accessible devices that screen for iron deficiency so that everyone can live a healthy life. Ferritiva News Cozad 2022 Winners Showcase Success on “Innovations” Podcast Ferritiva Wins Second Place and Several Other Prizes at the Cozad New Venture Challenge
SeriesFarm alect3@illinois.edu SeriesFarm is a platform for ag lenders to improve efficiency with farmer interactions while increasing financial competitiveness of farmers.
Radiant Looms Radiant Looms is developing a thin, lightweight, comfortable, anti-ionization-radiation baby suit to prevent radiation exposure to infants undergoing medical imaging in the NICU. Radiant Looms at Research Park Radiant Looms Awarded Student Startup Tenancy Prize
In the June Innovations @ Research Park podcast episode, host Tanmay Shah talked to Identomat CEO Dr. David Lomiashvili about his career journey, experience at EnterpriseWorks, identity verification, and looking ahead. Dr. David Lomiashvili is the CEO of Identomat, which has created an innovative AI-powered KYC and identity verification solution that assesses if the person in front of a camera is real or an impersonator. Before his current venture, Dr. Lomiashvili had an extensive pedigree in entrepreneurship, not to mention a PhD in Astrophysics. “A new project, a strategically important project, we are gonna be working on … is Digital Identity Wallet. It is a way to enable SSI, self-sovereign identity. It is what we see the next inflection point in the industry is gonna be, unleashing the wallet economy,” Lomiashvili said when talking about the future of Identomat and digital identity verification. The Innovations @ Research Park podcast highlights the thriving entrepreneurial and corporate innovation culture in Champaign. It is hosted by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumnus Tanmay Shah. Subscribe to The Innovations @ Research Park to catch up on the latest innovations and news on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred podcast network. Is there something you want to know about Research Park? Do you have an idea for a guest for the show or a story we should pursue? Do you want to provide other feedback? Contact Laura Bleill (lwbleill@illinois.edu).
New Podcast Episode: Digital Identity Verification Read Post »
FIRE @ FIVE MAY 2024 Fire @ Five Happy Hour and Bonfire is an event open to Research Park employees and their families and friends. The May Fire @ Five, “Picnic at the Park” was on Thursday, May 30 from 5:00 to 6:30 PM on the Atkins Patio. To learn about more events at Research Park, visit the events page, and to see previous Fire @ Five themes, visit the Fire @ Five page.
FIRE @ FIVE MAY 2024 Read Post »
EnterpriseWorks clean energy startup Cache Energy won first place in the Energy Program for Innovative Clusters (EPIC) pitch competition. Founder Arpit Dwivedi presented at the White House for this competition on May 15, 2024, winning $30,000 for the company. The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) announced $70,000 total of prize money to three clean energy startups and one incubator through the prize collaboration event. Attendees participated in a collaborative discussion, and a Q&A about supporting incubators, and traveled to Capitol Hill to meet with Congressional representatives and staff. Cache Energy focuses on creating energy storage that is non-toxic, non-flammable, and safe to transport and install anywhere through long-duration electricity storage. This technology can store grid electricity cheaply on a large scale and helps commercial and residential entities move away from fossil fuel. Learn more about the EPIC DC Pitch Competition on the Office of Technology Transitions website.
Cache Energy Wins EPIC DC Pitch Competition Read Post »
In the May episode of the Innovations @ Research Park podcast, host Tanmay Shah talked to NVIDIA Accelerated Big Data Platform Engineer Matt Ahrens about his career journey and the future of artificial intelligence (AI). Matt Ahrens oversees performance and tools work for the Accelerated Big Data Platforms group at NVIDIA. He’s a longtime leader in the University of Illinois Research Park community, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Computer Science in 2003 and working for Motorola and Yahoo! before transitioning to his current role at NVIDIA. Ahrens is also the co-founder and leader of the Champaign-Urbana Data Science User Group, which meets monthly at UIRP during the academic year. The podcast episode discusses using graphics processing units (GPUs) to accelerate data workflows. “A new frontier where we see accelerated computing really having a future is with big data processing,” Ahrens said, emphasizing how GPUs can make these processes more efficient. The Innovations @ Research Park podcast highlights the thriving entrepreneurial and corporate innovation culture in Champaign. It is hosted by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumnus Tanmay Shah. Subscribe to The Innovations @ Research Park to catch up on the latest innovations and news on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred podcast network. Is there something you want to know about Research Park? Do you have an idea for a guest for the show or a story we should pursue? Do you want to provide other feedback? Contact Laura Bleill (lwbleill@illinois.edu).
New Podcast Episode: Perspectives on AI from an NVIDIA Leader Read Post »
EnterpriseWorks startup founders and serial entrepreneurs Stephen Sligar and Ken Suslick were elected to the National Academy of Sciences on April 30, 2024. The National Academy of Sciences recognizes members due to their distinguished and continuing research achievements. Membership is determined by nomination and election by academy members and is a highly prestigious distinction in the science field. Stephen Sligar, founder of EnterpriseWorks startup Mobius Scientific, is a professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Illinois. His research centers on metalloenzymes, membrane-bound receptors, and investigations in cancer signaling and cholesterol homeostasis. He currently serves as the Chief Technical Officer of Mobius Scientific in EnterpriseWorks at the University of Illinois Research Park. Mobius Scientific is changing the outlook for patients with progressive vision loss by developing nanodisc-delivered therapies. It is an early-stage, platform biotechnology company treating optical diseases by addressing their root causes. Ken Suslick is a professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois and the founder of EnterpriseWorks startup Iridescent Sensors. His research interests include sonochemical synthesis, protein microspheres, and sensors and artificial olfaction. Iridescent Sensors is creating a field- deployable “optoelectronic nose” that can be placed in first responder vehicles and chemical workplaces to detect toxic chemicals. To learn more about this distinction, visit The National Academy of Sciences’s website.
EnterpriseWorks Founders Elected to National Academy of Sciences Read Post »
ENTERPRISEWORKS AWARDED $50,000 IN PRIZE MONEY FOR EQUITABLE ACCESS TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP CHAMPAIGN, IL – This week, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the EnterpriseWorks incubator at the University of Illinois Research Park as a Stage One winner for the 2024 Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC). EnterpriseWorks will receive a $50,000 cash prize for its impactful and inclusive approach to nurturing a collaborative national innovation ecosystem to advance small business research and development (R&D) from ideas to the market. By fostering connections between entrepreneurs, mentors, partners, philanthropies, corporations, investors, and other shared resources, GAFC 2024 catalyzes strategic ecosystem partnerships to build community and organizational capacity for the successful launch, growth, and scale of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)-based entrepreneurs. EnterpriseWorks’ award-winning model, the Entrepreneurial Leadership Development Accelerator (ELDA), identifies and develops talent to develop and/or support academic co-founders in the formation, launch, and growth of new science-based startups. “EnterpriseWorks’ mission is to launch, support, and advance startups that are commercializing disruptive technologies at the University of Illinois,” said Gerald O. Wilson, Ph.D., Director of Entrepreneurship. “The ELDA program aims to provide valuable non-technical support by training students who have business and/or entrepreneurial skills and backgrounds who can accelerate the success of tech startups.” The ELDA program aims to recruit participant cohorts that are at least 50 percent women or underrepresented people in tech. EnterpriseWorks will collaborate with the University of Illinois Office of Technology Management (OTM) to identify sustainability and biotechnology technologies with potential for new venture formation. During Stage One, EnterpriseWorks will work with University partners as well as organizations statewide to define participant profiles, recruiting, curriculum and mentorship processes. “In my opinion, identifying and recruiting cofounders is the single biggest bottleneck to achieving real-world impact with UIUC research. Many—perhaps most—of our faculty inventors would welcome the opportunity to work with a grad student, postdoc, or external business-side lead to commercialize their technologies,” said Michelle Chitambar, Ph.D., Senior Technology Manager at OTM. SBA welcomed Stage One submissions from a broad range of organizations with a collaborative vision to nurture a national ecosystem for equitable access to entrepreneurship. Winners of Stage One were selected through a multi-tier review panel process with experts in entrepreneurship, business, innovation, and strategic planning both inside and out of the federal government. Stage Two offers an additional $50,000 to $150,000 in cash prizes for Growth Accelerator Partnerships. To learn more about Stage Two opportunities and to access the Growth Accelerator Fund Competition Guidelines, please visit https://www.americasseedfund.us/accelerators With Stage Two funding, EnterpriseWorks plans to implement the ELDA program and curriculum, launching its first cohort in fall of 2024. “From inequity and climate change, to supporting national defense and community-driven economic prosperity, the real opportunity is now to build up innovation ecosystems. EnterpriseWorks is eager to launch this program to build more startups taking commercially viable and societally impactful technologies developed from academic research and putting them into the marketplace, while developing a pool of entrepreneurial talent that had been relatively untapped,” Wilson said. About EnterpriseWorks EnterpriseWorks is a business incubator that supports University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and community technology entrepreneurs in all stages of their startup journeys. Its clients build and create disruptive science-based startups across a wide range of domains, reflecting the depth and breadth of university expertise. Since opening in 2003, EnterpriseWorks clients have raised more than $1.4 billion in outside capital and $200 million in non-diluted funding. EnterpriseWorks is located on campus at the University of Illinois Research Park in Champaign.
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