Leadership


Camaraderie, Enthusiasm Punctuate Wolff New Venture Competition

UConn Today – A novel treatment for long-term pain management that could revolutionize post-operative care and eliminate the need for opioids for many, won the first-place, $30,000 grand prize at the Wolff New Venture Competition last week.

Professors and esteemed UConn Health researchers Lakshmi Nair, Ph.D. and Yusuf Khan, Ph.D. say they were both surprised and thrilled that their startup, Soleia Biosciences, received the award. With the financial and business support they’ve received, they hope to advance the treatment that has been in development for 10 years.

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Murphy Highlights UConn’s Connecticut Center For Entrepreneurship And Innovation As “Innovator Of The Month”

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.

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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.

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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.

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‘Hall of Fame’ Inductees Share Business Wisdom, Keys to Personal Success

UConn Today – The UConn School of Business’ Hall of Fame Ceremony offered a collection of stories, both funny and poignant, an abundance of heart-felt gratitude, and enough great business advice to fill an Adam Grant bestseller.

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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.

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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.

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Innovation Experts Make Their Pitch for Quantum Technology, Unleashing Excitement, Urgency

UConn Today – If Connecticut is afforded the opportunity to develop the most advanced technology in the world—technology that would save lives, create jobs, strengthen the economy, and revolutionize many industries— how could it not vigorously pursue it?

That was the question that Rajeeb Hazra, an international quantum-computing expert, and the keynote speaker at Thursday’s “Imagining a Quantum Future’’ event, posed to the audience of more than 150 academic, government, and industry leaders.

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CCEI Research Team Publishes Report on Early-Stage Entrepreneur Needs

UConn Today – Communication skill development is what entrepreneurs who participate in university accelerators most need in the early stages of their growth.

That’s the finding of a team of researchers from UConn’s Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CCEI), led by Associate Director of Entrepreneurial Communication and Research Rory McGloin, who is also an associate professor in both the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the School of Business.

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Innovation Quest Crowns Three New Champions

UConn Today – From the time he was a young child, Laron Burrows always knew he would be an entrepreneur.

“In the third grade I sold baseball cards and trinkets,” said Burrows, a Ph.D. candidate in chemical engineering. “At age 12, I was developing a way to remove oil from seawater. I always thought science and engineering innovations provided great opportunities for entrepreneurship.”

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