“I don’t want to say life-changing, but pretty close to it.”
That was Shamitha Shetty’s takeaway from the inaugural Triangle Universities Startup Workshop, held in mid-May. Shetty, a Ph.D. student in the Duke University Department of Biomedical Engineering, was beaming at the reception concluding the three-day intensive course, mulling over all the guidance she received on how to take her immunotherapy platform technology out of the lab and, hopefully, into a startup.
The idea for the Triangle Universities Startup Workshop grew out of the collaboration of the Triangle Venture Day crew, led at the academic institutions by Jeff Welch of Duke New Ventures, Mireya McKee of UNC-Chapel Hill KickStart Venture Services and Tim Martin of the NC State University Office of Research Commercialization.
The organizers selected innovators from their universities and assembled them into cross-campus teams, assigned them an experienced mentor, and challenged them to apply learnings from in-depth expert lectures to hands-on exercises based around their own technology spinouts.
“The Triangle Universities Startup Workshop was an invaluable experience for academic entrepreneurs looking to translate their innovative technologies into successful startups,” said Mireya McKee, organizer and representative from UNC KickStart Venture Services. “The collaborative environment, expert guidance and hands-on exercises provided participants with the tools and knowledge they need to navigate the complex journey from lab to market. We are excited to see the impact these startups will have on the industry and look forward to continuing this initiative in the future”.
In the end, creating more cross-campus events like this that engage local ecosystem players also builds a stronger community of entrepreneurship in North Carolina, a need mentioned by participants, speakers and organizers alike.
| UNC-CH