Innovation & Entrepreneurship

After working on their project for the entire academic year, CU Boulder engineering students placed first in a national design competition. The annual Solar District Cup Collegiate Design Competition is run through the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the U.S. Department of Energy. The goal was to build an economically feasible set of solar photovoltaics, also known as solar-PV installations, for a campus or urban district.

The latest Creative Distillation podcast delivers a spirited discussion on Hoosier state sours and the unorthodox actions entrepreneurs take to address organizational challenges. Creative Distillation is a podcast co-hosted by Associate Professor Jeff York, Research Director, and Instructor Brad Werner, Teaching Director for the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship. Each episode distills academic research on entrepreneurship into actionable insights.

Double helical covalent polymers—which are spiraling collections of nature’s building blocks—are fundamental to life itself, and yet, despite decades of research, scientists have never been able to synthesize them in their entirety like their non-helical brethren—until now. Scientists, led by a team at the University of Colorado Boulder, have cracked the code, creating synthetic versions of these large DNA-like molecules for the first time.

The Southern Ute Tribe, Fort Lewis College and The University of Colorado-Boulder Leeds School of Business Deming Center for Entrepreneurship will host the virtual inaugural Native Entrepreneurship workshop May 21 and 22. The workshop will be taught by Erick Mueller and Visda Carson, entrepreneurs and award-winning professors at the Leeds School of Business.

Continuing what has been a busy year for the startup, Boulder-based ColdQuanta has brought on $20 million to help commercialize its quantum computing technology. The investment brings ColdQuanta’s total funding to $74 million and comes from existing investors including Foundry Group, Global Frontier Quantum Opportunity Fund, LCP Quantum Partners and Maverick Ventures.

Meet Sam Stevens, Founder and CEO of Peaceful Places LLC, a nature-themed virtual reality app that creates experiences for relaxation and reflection. Sam is a current student at CU Boulder studying Computer Science and Creative Technology & Design. Sam developed the idea for Peaceful Places over a decade ago and has been a serial entrepreneur ever since!

“This program is a positive, progressive move for CU Boulder,” said Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty. “It will lessen the criminal justice footprint in the lives of students while still allowing CUPD to keep this beautiful campus safe for everyone. I applaud Chief Jokerst and CU Boulder for this innovative and important reform.”

Graduating in May 2021with degrees in Creative Technology and Design, these innovative students have recognized for exceptional accomplishments, having demonstrated initiative in their academic and extracurricular activities, completing outstanding research or creative projects, or contributing significantly to the ATLAS community.

Claire France began her dream endeavor, My Launch Box, a lunch box meal delivery and catering service with a buy-one-give-one model. With the tagline "Fuel the Future," Launch Box partners with one of the largest elementary schools in Chicago Public Schools, where 96% of the school’s 1,200 students qualify for free and reduced-price lunch.

Solid Power, an industry-leading producer of all solid-state batteries for electric vehicles, today announced a $130 million Series B investment round. The investment positions Solid Power to produce full-scale automotive batteries, increase associated material output and expand in-house production capabilities for future vehicle integration.