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NEWSLETTER APRIL 2019

Universities have always been recognized for their role in research and theassociated translation of research into products for industry. Over the last 50years, the role universities have played in R&D, innovation, andentrepreneurship for the economy and for corporate companies has shifted ascompanies have adopted a greater reliance on acquisitions for innovation andas the VC and investment industry has grown, fueling a plethora of startups.

UC Innovation & Entrepreneurship Newsletter https://us18.campaign-archive.com/?u=287a97a92234b8fbbeee356f9&i...

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Universities are becoming hives not just of innovation and research, but also ofentrepreneurship. The University of California and many UC campuses havegained national and international recognition for their approaches to innovationand entrepreneurship, but we still have a long way to go to fulfill our growingrole in innovation and entrepreneurship as a university and as a publicinstitution with a responsibility to society.

Two UC Davis-associated companies, Japaand Aluminum Oxide, have made it into thefinal-four round of the Sacramento KingsCapitalize contest. Japa Inc. CEO & Co-Founder, Mathew Magno, won the GrandPrize and was presented with the prizecheck of $10,000. Magno is a prior recipientof Big Bang Business Competition. Readmore

Learn about their company:

Japa, is a smart parking company delivering data and advanced analyticsto solve parking issues. Japa's pioneering technology makes the parkingexperience for consumers easier, while making corporate campuses andcities more efficient.Aluminum Oxide (finalist of 2018 UC Systemwide Entrepreneur PitchCompetition), a company that was started by UC Davis engineeringstudents and based on the work of Jerry Woodall, distinguished professorof electrical and computer engineering at UC Davis, utilizes the propertiesof gallium and the elemental power of aluminum to produce high purityAluminum Oxide (HPA) in an environmentally friendly and cost-effectiveway, which can be used in semiconductors and batteries. Read more

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The right pitch canearn a startupeverything from cashprizes and funding, torecognition andstrategic partnerships.Byron Shen, CEO ofUCI Applied Innovationstartup VeloxBiosystems, hasfirsthand experience.

Hot off his recent winat the 2018 UCEntrepreneur PitchCompetition, Shen

shared pitching tips in a lunch-and-learn event at the Cove @ UCI AppliedInnovation.

“Being a startup is tough business. It’s like running an obstacle course,overcoming one challenge after another,” said Shen of the struggles thatstartups face. “And one of the biggest challenges is finding funding.” Read more

Gillian Hayesexperienced amigratory life growingup, as her parentswould move the familyfrom state to statepursuing careers inacademia atuniversities. Herdecision to pursuecomputer science as a


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second major unveiled a newfound passion.

“I just fell in love with computer science and seemed to excel in classes thatwere considered more challenging in computer science, where in bio I hadstruggled,” said Hayes.

That small change set the foundation for what is now Hayes’ career as UCIprofessor of informatics and, as of January 2018, CEO of startup companyAVIAA. AVIAA is an international group purchasing organization for businessaviation started in the U.K., now headquartered here in Irvine with officesworldwide. an international group purchasing organization for business aviationstarted in the U.K., now headquartered here in Irvine with offices worldwide.Read more

When Ksenia Yudina(’14) realized she wasmore interested in thefinance side of themortgage brokerageshe worked for thanshe was in the realestate side, she gotherself anundergraduate degreein finance. From there,as her talents

blossomed and she earned her CFA as well as her Anderson MBA, her careerpath seemed a natural climb up the corporate ladder at Capital GroupCompanies. But instead, Yudina took a gamble on a new chapter. “It was apretty risky adventure,” she says. “It wasn’t an easy decision for me.” In 2017,Yudina gave up managing $1.2 billion in business for Capital Group ― whereshe rose to VP of American Funds in less than three years ― to found her owncompany. She says she felt a now-or-never compulsion to develop a businessidea she knew could solve a problem. Read more


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First-year student,Kumaran Akilan, hasdeveloped analgorithm that usesthe retinal vesselsystem to findabnormalities that cansignal Alzheimer'sdisease. He is workingon a lens that couldmake this technologyaccessible for asmartphone, enablingprimary care

physicians to possibly take the lead in diagnosing the disease quicker thancurrent methods. Akilan was recognized at CES in January and has a personalconnection to the disease through his grandfather. Read more

An interdisciplinaryteam of UCLAengineers and medicalprofessionals has wonan award from theUCLA Innovation Fundfor their work inadvancing efforts toimage structures ofthe eye using lasers.The endeavor is acollaboration between

Kouros Nouri-Mahdavi, an assistant professor of ophthalmology in theglaucoma division of the UCLA Jules Stein Eye Institute, Chee Wei Wong,professor of electrical and computer engineering in the UCLA Samueli School ofEngineering, and Jinghui Yang and Yoon-Soo Jang, two research scientists inWong’s lab. Read more


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Computer scientists atthe University ofCalifornia, Davis, andthe California Instituteof Technology havecreated DNA moleculesthat can self-assembleinto patternsessentially by runningtheir own program.The work waspublished March 21 inthe journal Nature.“The ultimate goal isto use computation to

grow structures and enable more sophisticated molecular engineering,” saidDavid Doty, assistant professor of computer science at UC Davis and co-firstauthor on the paper. Read more

Imagine 1,000 puzzle pieces withoutany picture of what it’s ultimatelysupposed to look like. With few, ifany, reference points, the challengeof fitting them together would bedaunting. Head and neck surgeon,Brad Strong, holds a model producedby a 3D printer, which can be seenbehind him. That’s what surgeonsoften confront when a patientsuffering from a traumatic injury orcondition has a portion of their bodythat is dramatically damaged orchanged. The “puzzle” can be

exponentially harder when the injuries involve a person’s face or skull – areasof the human anatomy that are complex, difficult to surgically navigate, and


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often require both functional and near-perfect cosmetic repair. Read more

UC Davis Graduate School ofManagement alumnus, TiagoCavagnaro MBA 10, returned tocampus to attend the 2019 Food, Ag+ Health Entrepreneurship Academy,presented by the Mike and ReneeChild Institute for Innovation andEntrepreneurship. While in Northern

California, Cavagnaro also met with other UC Davis alumni, angel investors andventure capitalists to build his network. Cavagnaro is the chief innovationofficer at ADA Soluciones Informaticas in Santiago, Chile. Read more

A diverse cohort of 75 MBA studentsand Ph.D. candidates from UC Davis,Rice, Lamar, and other topuniversities recently spent four daysimmersed in entrepreneurship at the2019 Ignite conference. Acollaboration between the UC Davis

Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Rice Alliance forTechnology and Entrepreneurship, Ignite introduced the students to some ofNorthern California’s top startup leaders and innovative CEOs. Held March 6 to9 at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, Ignite included meetingswith, and presentations by, some of Northern California's top entrepreneursand intrapreneurs, and gave students the opportunity to grow their networkswith like-minded peers at other schools. Read more

Students today typically don't learn


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practical skills in integrated photonics—like how to characterize and testphotonics integrated circuits— until the PhD level. Electrical engineers at UCSan Diego, in collaboration with Tyndall National Institute in Cork, Ireland, arechanging that. They developed an educational toolkit to bring integratedphotonics into the undergraduate college engineering and science curriculum.The team envisions that teaching these skills earlier on will enable moregraduates to enter the integrated photonics industry workforce and meet thegrowing demand for photonics technicians and engineers. Read more

Building robots that can help peoplewith dementia has been a longtimegoal for roboticists. Yet until now, noone has sought to survey informalcaregivers, such as family members,about what characteristics and rolesthese robots should have. A team ofscientists at UC San Diego sought toaddress this by spending six monthsco-designing robots with family

members, social workers, and other caregivers who care for people withdementia. The research is led by computer science professor, Laurel Riek, amember of the UC San Diego Contextual Robotics Institute. The researchersfound that caregivers wanted the robots to fulfill two major roles: supportpositive moments shared by caregivers and their loved ones; and lessencaregivers’ emotional stress by taking on difficult tasks, such as answeringrepeated questions and restricting unhealthy food. Read coverage inMedgadget. Read more

Savan Devani is the CEO & Founder ofBioTrillion, a health tech company buildingan AI-platform called BioEngine4D todigitally detect developing diseases. Their


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current disease targets are in the neurology and respiratory areas and theirBioEngine4D solution will be deployed initially for the Consumer market, via afront-end BioTrillion mobile App.

Savan is a trained Bioengineer and laterspent the bulk of his career on the business side the Life Sciences industry as aInvestment Banker at Citigroup and Deutsche Bank. Savan graduated with aM.S.E. in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania, with an emphasisin Business from Wharton and a B.S.E. in Bioengineering focused in ComputerScience from the University of California at Berkeley. Read more

Dr. Jason McKeown is the CEO & Founder ofNeurovalens, a health-tech startup thatcreates non-invasive tech wearable devices(based on neuroscience research) that helpimprove the lives of those who suffer fromneurological issues, such as obesity andinsomnia. Neurovalens was a winner of the2018 UC Entrepreneur Pitch Competition.Dr. Jason McKeown is a UK trained medicalphysician with an interest in theneurological aspect of obesity, diabetes and

metabolism. His current roles are based at both the University of California,San Diego where he holds a Visiting Scholar position at the Center for Brain &Cognition, and also at Queen’s University of Belfast where he holds an MDResearch Position at the school of Medicine. Read more

Parsa Rezvani is the CEO & Founder ofTutorfly, a startup that participated in the2018 UC Entrepreneur Pitch Competition.Congrats to Tutorfly for placing 1st inPitchForce competition three timesconsecutively in the EdTech Track in theYoung Startup West Conference andexceeding $15k in revenue during February.


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They also launched a test Affiliate Sales Program and closed $100k of theirfundraising round. The judges from the competition represented MIT Angels,Bay Angels, Band of Angels, 500 Startups, and the Keiretsu Forum. Mostrecently they pitched on March 7th at the Venture Summit West Conference atthe Hyatt Regency Hotel.

5:00 pm PT | B100 Blum Hall, UC Berkeley

Don’t miss this exciting event! After months ofdeveloping their Big Ideas with mentors, selectedstudent teams compete in the annual Big IdeasGrand Prize Pitch Day for up to $5,000 in prizes.Teams will share their vision for social impactwith a panel of esteemed judges. This annualhighlight of the Big Ideas Contest is not to bemissed and offers opportunities for audienceparticipation and networking. Stay tuned for thepitch lineup. RSVP here

The J.M.K. Prize seeks to identify, support, andelevate innovators who are spearheadingtransformative early-stage projects in the fieldsof the environment, heritage conservation, andsocial justice. There are up to ten availableprizes, each including a cash award of $150,000over three years, plus $25,000 for projectexpenses, for a total award of $175,000.Awardees also receive guidance through theJ.M.K. Fund and its resource network, providingtraining and tools for ascendant change makers.Apply here


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Open to all science and engineering basedstudent teams!

Students can receive an E-Team grant of up to$25K and get training through our early-stageinnovator training program. The programprovides peer networking, expert coaching,national recognition, and hands-onworkshops. Our offerings advance teams throughthe pathway they’re likely to take as an innovatorand entrepreneur. More info

Open to all female founders! Girls in Tech'sAMPLIFY is a half-day startup pitch competitionfor women-founded startups. If you are afounder, work at a female-founded startup, orknow someone who does, consider applying toAMPLIFY for a chance to win $10,000+ in seedfunding and services, exposure on a global stage,and be introduced to a community of investorscommitted to supporting women entrepreneurs.Apply here

Open to all early-stage startups! Make in LA is afour-month accelerator program in Los Angelesthat invests $100,000-$600,000 in early-stagestartups. The program starts in mid-August andends in mid-December 2019. MiLA specializes inadvanced manufacturing, healthcare, food tech,


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mobility, clean tech, and Latin American startups,and has invested in 17 startups since 2015.Apply here

Do you have a product or design idea that couldcreate jobs, improve daily life, save time/money,help the environment, or benefit society in otherways? Enter the 2019 "Create the Future" DesignContest for a chance to win $20,000 USD, othergreat prizes, and global recognition. More info

CONNECT Springboard AcceleratorProgram - due on a rolling basisSpringboard is a free mentoring program forentrepreneurs with startups in tech or lifescience. Springboard helps entrepreneursdevelop a compelling commercialization strategyand prepare for future funding andgrowth. Springboard offers rolling admission soyou can get going right away. Apply here

Energy/ Cleantech Entrepreneurs -Get Help Commercializing EmergingEnergy Technologies - due on arolling basis

The San Diego Regional Energy InnovationNetwork is a free program for startups that aredeveloping solutions to help California meet itsenergy goals. The program provides acess to theresources and facilities of a number of regionalpartner organizations and connections withindustry in order to accelerate thecommercialization of emerging energytechnologies. Apply here


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April 25-26, 2019 | UCLA, CA

Impactathon is part of Impact Week 2019 and gives individuals interested insocial impact and social entrepreneurship the opportunity to learn from UCLAfaculty about how social impact works as a system! Participants working inteams will also have a chance to win $10,000 for their enterprise solution or upto $1,000 for mapping out a solvable problem! More info

May 15, 2019 | UCLA, CA

AI and Autonomous Mobility in Collaboration with UCLA CAEV - 5/15/19Whether you approach AI as a data scientist, researcher or entrepreneur, thisconference will provide you the opportunity to learn and network with expertsin AI and those working on innovations in the automotive and transportationsectors. More info


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May 17, 2019 | UC Merced, CA

Innovate to Grow is the bi-annual showcase of UC Merced student ingenuityand entrepreneurship. Save the Date for our Spring 2019 event, which isscheduled on Friday, May 17, 2019. Everyone – the campus community and thepublic – is invited to Innovate to Grow to see the amazing results of studentteams from our signature programs: (1) Capstone Innovation Design Clinic (2)Engineering Service Learning and (3) Mobile App Challenge (which will featurein our Spring edition). The work these teams perform will have long-lastingimplications, not only for the students and partnering organizations, but alsofor the wider community, the state, the nation and, potentially, the world. Moreinfo

May 30 | 5:30 pm PT | Room 212, Byers Hall, UCSF Mission Bay

Early-stage companies will have to obtain funding or go through an exitprocess at some point in time. Since intellectual property (IP) often representsthe bulk of an early stage company’s assets, investors will typically conductdue diligence on the IP during their evaluation process. Key areas that areevaluated include ownership of the IP, strength of the company’s IP, andfreedom-to-operate. Join us May 30 to get a primer on how to prepare for IPdue diligence from Douglas Portnow and Piers Blewett from the IP law firmSchwegman Lundberg & Woessner. Register


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June 3 - 6, 2019 | Philadelphia, PA

The BIO International Convention is hosted by the Biotechnology InnovationOrganization (BIO). BIO represents more than 1,100 biotechnology companies,academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizationsacross the United States and in more than 30 other nations. BIO members areinvolved in the research and development of innovative healthcare,agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products. More info

June 17-19, 2019 | Boston, MA

Join us in Boston Massachusetts for the 21st annual Nanotech 2019 Conference& Expo, co-located with the TechConnect World Innovation Conference, AITechConnect and SBIR/STTR Innovation Conferences. On behalf of oursymposium organizers we warmly invite you to submit your research abstractand participate in this exciting international event. More info

June 28, 2019 | UC Irvine

The UC Center for Accelerated Innovation (CAI) and UC Biomedical Research,Integration and Development (BRAID) are partnering with UCI AppliedInnovation to host a forum for UC Faculty to pitch advanced translationalprograms to a group of potential investors. Friday, June 28, 2019. UC Irvine or

webcast. More info


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UC Incubators & AcceleratorsInnovation Support & FundingInnovation Training &EducationUC Technologies Available forLicensingTechnology Commercialization:Campus OfficesUC Innovation Impact

Do you have news to share? Wouldyou like to be featured as a UCfounder? Is there an upcoming eventyou’d like us to include? Send us anemail!

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