KU to host Celebration of Innovation: A Startup Showcase

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas continues to make entrepreneurship a key initiative, in part with the inaugural Celebration of Innovation: A Startup Showcase, set for 1-5 p.m. Oct. 7 at the Bioscience & Technology Business Center facility on KU’s west campus.

The Celebration of Innovation will feature the following:

• 10-minute pitches from six KU faculty-created startup companies and five student-led companies, with the student presenters being ranked by a team of judges.
• A panel discussion featuring experts from the region’s largest and most successful companies.
• A networking event during which the university’s annual Jim Baxendale Innovation Award recipient and the event’s top student presenter will be recognized.

The event is geared toward entrepreneurs and business leaders interested in licensing, commercializing, investing or otherwise becoming involved with introducing new KU discoveries to the marketplace. A complete agenda is available here.

“The University of Kansas continues to encourage an entrepreneurial mindset among our faculty so that they’re always thinking about starting companies or translating their discoveries into new products that change the world,” said Julie Nagel, interim president of KU Innovation & Collaboration and interim associate vice chancellor for innovation & entrepreneurship. “This event is a great opportunity to see KU startup companies commercializing the latest life science, medical device and cutting-edge technologies generated as a result of over $250 million in research conducted annually at KU.”

The event will kick off at 1 p.m. with opening remarks and a brief discussion of the commercialization ecosystem at KU.

At 1:45 p.m., guests can attend a panel on technology acquisition, featuring: Dave Baloga, director of research at Hill’s Pet; Brett Leeth, managing director for innovation and corporate development for Koch Industries; and Robert Zolynas, vice president for research and development at Bayer Healthcare. Tricia Bergman, director of strategic partnerships at KU, will moderate the panel.

At 3:15 p.m., faculty and student startup founders will make 10-minute pitches — a brief explanation of their business concept — and take questions from attendees. Student startup companies will be judged by a team of panelists based on business opportunity and delivery.

Guests are then invited to attend the Inventor’s Networking Reception, presented in collaboration with BIOKansas, at 5 p.m. The reception will provide an opportunity for attendees to meet with KU startup companies and the featured panelists. The Baxendale Innovation Award — presented annually to a faculty member or group of faculty members who have made an outstanding contribution to the commercial industry — will be announced during the reception.

The results of the student startup pitches will also be announced at the reception. The top student presenter will receive the opportunity to make a pitch alongside Pipeline entrepreneurs at the Pipeline Innovator of the Year celebration hosted at Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri. The daylong event includes a pitch session featuring the fellows of Pipeline’s 2015 class. The student company will be recognized during the Innovator of the Year dinner the same evening. KU is a partner university of Pipeline, a fellowship for high-growth entrepreneurs based in Kansas City, Kansas.