UConn’s debut Tech Showcase highlighted Connecticut’s brilliant way forward for innovation and trade whereas paying tribute to an infrastructure constructed on manufacturing and safety.
The Showcase, held on the UConn Tech Park on Sept. 18, drew virtually 200 individuals, together with University and state leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators. It was hosted by UConn’s Technology Commercialization Services (TCS), the wing of the Office of the Vice President for Research that facilitates tech switch, mental property, different aspects of entrepreneurship and innovation.
The occasion celebrated Connecticut’s industrial historical past, financial restoration from recession, and promising tendencies for a state amid a technological renaissance in areas corresponding to quantum know-how and synthetic intelligence.
“It’s because we have this incredible hundred plus-year legacy of making incredibly complicated things here. That is where we have a true comparative edge,” stated Daniel O’Keefe, the state Commissioner of the Economic Development and Chief Innovation Officer.
O’Keefe highlighted the state’s manufacturing of photolithography machines, that are machines that make semiconductors. “Every advanced semiconductor, not hyperbole, is made right here in Connecticut.”
The commissioner tied Connecticut’s future success largely to its embracing and integrating quantum know-how. He highlighted the collaboration between UConn and Yale – the state’s two R1 analysis universities – for the QuantumCT proposal, which was simply named a finalist for a $160 million National Science Foundation award. O’Keefe stated Connecticut could be a chief in quantum, developed over a long time of integrating materials science, mechanical engineering, and chemical engineering.
“That’s what we do here. If you actually boil it down, that’s the skillset our workforce has built over the last 100-plus years,” O’Keefe stated. “This combination of AI and quantum which we expect to happen and impact on a broad commercial scale in the next 10 to 20 years, I think that is a Silicon Valley moment.”
Provost Anne D’Alleva, reflecting on her 26 years on the University, related UConn’s mission as a land-grant college with its emergence as an innovation engine. She highlighted initiatives just like the Technology Incubation Program, which is the most important incubator of tech startup firms within the state.
“This is the innovative, groundbreaking work that we do that pushes our state forward and pushes our nation forward,” D’Alleva stated, additionally lauding UConn’s assets and infrastructure. “We are continually on the leading edge bringing leading-edge technologies and experts here to Connecticut to work in partnership with industry.”
The Showcase was a chance for startups to make pitches to buyers as backers of their firms and improvements. Expert panels served as judges and advisors, grading the shows and providing constructive suggestions. Thousands of {dollars} in prizes had been awarded to pitches in enterprise and know-how within the life science and bodily science fields.
The full-day occasion additionally featured panel dialogue, school shows and pitches, and a poster showcase within the IPB foyer.
Abhijit Banerjee, the Associate Vice President for Research, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship, stated he hoped the Tech Showcase was the primary of many to come back yearly. In addition to demonstrating UConn’s breadth of know-how and initiatives, it supplied a priceless alternative to bridge that success with communities.
“That’s where we derive our strength, our passion, and our support,” Banerjee stated.