Illuminate Global

UConn Business Students Attend Harvard University Innovation Conference

UConn students attended the inaugural Illuminate Global Conference on October 3-4, 2015 at Harvard University. The primary focus of Illuminate Global is to foster and facilitate innovation and entrepreneurship among ambitious and high-achieving undergraduate students. The conference was organized by Harvard Ventures, Harvard’s undergraduate entrepreneurial group. Chuyue Zhou, Conference Chair and Harvard University junior stated, “At Harvard there was a gap in the programming in business between undergraduate and graduate levels. About nine months ago we decided to create this conference to focus on innovation.”

Students heard from three keynote speakers: Mehmood Khan, chief scientific officer of PepsiCo; Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora Radio; and Katie Rae, chairwoman of Boston TechStars. They shared their industry expertise, successes, failures, and gave students advice on their entrepreneurial endeavors. During Katie Rae’s presentation, she had a few students pitch their ideas and projects to her. Michael Jean-Paul ’16 (CLAS) had the opportunity to garner advice from Katie Rae about the mobile app, SwipeShop, which he and his team are working on.

Tim Westergren
Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora Radio (Quian Callender)

In addition to the keynote speakers, UConn attendees participated in numerous exchanges of ideas, workshops and breakout sessions among the 160 conference participants from as far away as South Korea and Germany. Topics of breakout sessions included social entrepreneurship, consulting, finance, and marketing. During the Social Entrepreneurship breakout session Rebecca Ballard, executive director of Compass Partners, challenged students to define the space of social entrepreneurship and to tackle the world’s issues through innovative ideas.

UConn students selected to attend this conference received funding for conference registration from the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CCEI) with all other expenses covered by UConn Honors in Business Association.

Read more about UConn students’ conference experiences at: http://hiba.business.uconn.edu/category/illuminate/


 

About Honors in Business Association: Honors in Business Association (HiBA) is a student organization formed between the Honors Program and UConn School of Business. HiBA strives to create a sense of community for students in both Honors and the School of Business and those with an interest in business while focusing on professional development. Contact information: uconnhiba@gmail.com

 


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