University of Colorado Boulder faculty entrepreneurship success stories will highlight the annual "Entrepreneurship Under the Microscope" event on March 9.
Hosted by the University of Colorado Technology Transfer Office and the Leeds School of Business' Deming Center for Entrepreneurship, the event will be held in the Stadium Club at Folsom Field from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The event is open to business community members and CU-Boulder faculty and staff. A conference fee may apply.
"We hope that Entrepreneurship Week activities will inspire new entrepreneurs on campus by celebrating past achievements," said Kate Tallman, director of CU-Boulder's Technology Transfer Office. "This luncheon provides a forum for new entrepreneurs to meet and learn from CU-Boulder faculty who have founded successful companies and to connect to the Boulder business community."
The event will include a poster session highlighting CU-Boulder technologies that are ready for commercialization, as well as several speakers including Stein Sture, CU-Boulder vice chancellor for research; Larry Gold, founder and CEO of SomaLogic; and Michael Lynch, chief scientific officer of OPX Biotechnologies. Gold is a CU-Boulder professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology. OPX Biotechnologies is a venture-backed CU-Boulder spinoff company that makes renewable bio-based chemicals and fuels.
Since 1994, 62 companies have been started based on technology developed at CU-Boulder, including 10 companies in which technologies were jointly developed by researchers at CU's Boulder and Denver campuses.
Entrepreneurship Under the Microscope is part of CU-Boulder's Entrepreneurship Week being held on campus March 7-11. One of the highlights of the week is the CU New Venture Challenge, a campuswide initiative connecting teams of students and faculty in a broad range of disciplines with mentors from the business community and culminating in a business plan competition.
Twelve teams chosen as semifinalists will present their business plans to a panel of judges on March 10 in the ATLAS building on campus. The top three business plans will be selected that evening and the winning teams will be awarded cash prizes. For more information on the challenge visit cunvc.org/.
To register for Entrepreneurship Under the Microscope visit eweek2011tickets.eventbrite.com/. CU staff and faculty may register at cueweek2011.eventbrite.com/.