murphy.senate.gov – HARTFORD–U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) announced on Wednesday that the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CCEI), the University of Connecticut’s entrepreneurship center, was named “Innovator of the Month” for its work to advance entrepreneurship in Connecticut. The center provides students, faculty, alumni, and military veterans with the necessary resources, mentorship, and networking opportunities to scale up their ideas, empowering entrepreneurs across the state to build sustainable businesses and make a positive impact.
CCEI
Beloved Family Dog Inspired South Windsor Family to Become Entrepreneurs
UConn Today – The Cecchini family’s entrepreneurship story began with an extraordinary love for their English Bulldog, Tank.
Unlike his two canine brothers, Tank suffered from unrelenting food allergies and painful ear infections. The South Windsor family developed a healthy, all-natural, grain-free dog biscuit just for him. When friends and family kept asking for samples, they recognized they were onto something big. They created their business, The Dog Bone LLC, in 2016.
Partnership, Collaboration, And Clarity
Mirage – As a child, Kumanga Andrahennadi would often walk through her village to the water’s edge and talk to the sea.
She grew up in Tangalle, a coastal town in southern Sri Lanka. There’s no land between Tangalle and the continent of Antarctica, Andrahennadi explains, only the sea.
Raised in a Buddhist family, Andrahennadi learned the practice of mindfulness from her parents, and in her youth, whenever she felt the heaviness of the situation surrounding her, she would lean into her own mindful connection with nature and go to talk with the sea.
UConn course, with lessons on building a brand, creating content and more, empowers student athletes in NIL ventures
Hartford Courant – One of the University of Connecticut’s most valuable coaching programs for athletes doesn’t have much to do with sports.
Dozens of UConn’s Division I student athletes — including men’s basketball champions Donovan Clingan, Hassan Diarra and Adama Sanogo — have been studying business development under the tutelage of David Noble, director of the Peter J. Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation.
Innovation Quest’s Three Winning Teams All Passionate About Human Health
UConn Today – Although personal health-tracking devices have proliferated in recent years, entrepreneur John Toribio, a Ph.D. candidate at UConn, believes his innovation is far superior to what’s available on the market today.
Toribio Labs is the winner of UConn’s 2024 Innovation Quest (iQ) entrepreneurship competition and has received a $15,000 award.
Sustainable Dinosaurs, Seaweed, and Accessibility: Diverse Cohort Selected for CCEI’s 2024 Summer Fellowship – UConn’s Startup Accelerator
UConn Today – Atlantic Sea Solutions is a startup that develops edible coatings from seaweed that can extend the shelf life of fresh produce.
Another startup, Webquity, is working to ensure that students with disabilities and neurodiverse learners have equitable access to online content.
Yet another startup – Happy Dinosaur – is looking to grow and scale a line of sustainable and handmade plush dinosaurs that, up until now, have all been made by the startup’s founder individually and by hand.
Artificial Intelligence-Savvy College Students Introduce New Skills to Business Professionals at Hartford AI Day
UConn Today – Sophomore Samarth Gupta ‘26 stood in front a room filled with business leaders at Hartford AI Day and explained why artificial intelligence can dramatically improve everyday life.
MIT has created ICU Intervene, which predicts what treatments will be most effective for critically ill patients, he said. Paypal uses AI to analyze transactions to curtail cybersecurity fraud. And Amazon is using image detection to support a ‘smart store,’ which eliminates the need to wait in checkout lines.
National Science Foundation Invites UConn to Join Prestigious Partnership, Enhancing Opportunities for Science, Tech Startups
UConn Today – The University of Connecticut has joined the National Science Foundation I-Corps Hub Northeast Region, a prestigious appointment that will allow the university to serve more entrepreneurs seeking to develop scientific and technological innovations.
Brian and Company w Rory McGloin and Mayor Shari Cantor 1-18-24
Brian & Company – Rory Mcgloin and Mayor Shari Cantor of West Hartford join the conversation.
UConn’s Innovation Quest Turns Students into Entrepreneurs
UConn Today – Just a year ago, Amelia Martin ’23 (CAHNR) was an undergraduate student with a great idea for creating an eco-friendly surfboard, but little idea how to bring it to the marketplace.
Today she is an entrepreneur and the owner of Mud Rat, a company creating organic surfboard cores from the mycelium of mushrooms. The material can replace Styrofoam, which produces toxic dust, and takes hundreds of years to decompose.