In its 20th year, UNC Charlotte's Venture Challenge shines the spotlight on campus researchers, student entrepreneurs and startup founders.
The challenge, hosted by UNCC's Ventureprise program, is at 2 p.m. on April 20. It will be a virtual event featuring four 20-minute panels.
Ventureprise is a nonprofit that serves as a venture development organization for the university and the Charlotte region. Its programs target innovation-driven entrepreneurs as well as university researchers and students interested in entrepreneurship.
"The goal of the event is to celebrate university and community entrepreneurship," said Laura Smailes, Ventureprise assistant director.
Here's a breakdown of the four panels:
- Panel 1, UNC Charlotte Student Entrepreneurship Showcase: Five UNCC student entrepreneurs will pitch their ideas. Each of the students were chosen from a group of 19 through their participation in an entrepreneurial workshop and several rounds of pre-challenge pitches. The final participants, who will be announced on Thursday, will receive $1,500 and a summer mentorship opportunity.
- Panel 2, Tech Transfer: UNC Charlotte Technologies Available for Licensing: Brad Fach, assistant director of office of research commercialization and development, will host the discussion and address partnering, research collaboration and licensing considerations along with College of Liberal Arts and Science guests Susan Trammell and Jordan Poler.
- Panel 3, NSF I-Corps: Innovative Research-Based Technology Innovators: This panel will feature three innovators in the College of Arts and Architecture who have recently completed NSF's I-Corps program. Associate professor Kyoung Hee Kim; lecturer and research fellow Chengde Wu; and graduate research assistant Roshanak Ashrafi will discuss how they've taken their work from an idea to commercialization.
- Panel 4, Ventureprise Launch Summer Accelerator Showcase Powered by NC IDEA: Meet the Startups: The final panel will introduce the organization's summer accelerator cohort — Penny Campbell, Seniors in Transition founder; Ash Malepati, Bitesavvy founder; Adonis Abdullah, Hot Route Analytics founder; Victor Chen, EMIE; Kim Harclerode, No Mess. SPF founder; and Pedro Regaldo and Tao Han, Talaria Technologies.
Following the pitches, presentations and discussions, guests will have the opportunity to join each of the four groups in separate Zoom rooms for live question and answer sessions.
