INNOVATE@BU ANNUAL REPORT 2020–2021 ACADEMIC YEAR
We envision a world where all BU Terriers are equipped with innovation skills and an entrepreneurial mindset, and are prepared to create meaningful impact in their careers and communities.
The BUild Lab IDG Capital Student Innovation Center was established in February 2018 with generous support from Hugo Shong (COM’87, GRS’90) and IDG Capital. 2
CONTENTS Overview
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Team
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Key Numbers
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2020-2021 Programs
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Key Programs
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Success Stories
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On the cover: “City of Opportunity” by Sam Weinberger (CFA’21), Big Sam, 2020.3
OV E RVI E W The faculty and staff of Innovate@BU and the Build Lab: IDG Capital Student Innovation Center were forced to “walk the talk” during the 2020-2021 academic year and they delivered. Out of necessity, the year began with all-virtual programming, accompanied by uncertainty about the timing of a return to campus and considerable trepidation about the merits of online teaching and learning. Rather than hesitating, the faculty and staff of Innovate@BU were role models as they urgently modified existing programming, created innovative new programming, and found fresh tools to teach, mentor and coach students. Our students also rose to the occasion. They quickly realized a simple truth: they could either sit back in despair or they could pick a problem and solve it. They chose to solve problems. From working on devices to eliminating bedsores, or developing training modules for students headed for overseas study, our students are making a difference and will positively impact their careers and the communities in which they live. The BUild Lab: IDG Capital Student Innovation Center has spawned and funded on-going companies in fields as diverse as women’s clothing, electric motors, and space reentry vehicles. Nonprofits incubated in the BUild Lab serve everyone from displaced refugees to first generation college students. Our students are creative, caring and highly motivated. As a result, and despite massive headwinds, Innovate@BU grew. For example, the number of teams participating in our signature program, the Innovation Pathway sponsored by Cynthia Cohen (MET) increased by 15%. This year’s virtual IDEA Conference was attended by more students from more universities and colleges than ever before. Demand for other programs such as our New Venture Competition and our Summer Accelerator remained at high levels. In recognition of all these efforts, we were named “Outstanding Emerging Center” by the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers. While all signs point toward a residential experience during the Fall 2021 semester, regardless of the future, our fundamental promise to the university remains the same. We will serve all 17 schools and colleges of Boston University, and will support freshmen and graduate students alike. We will continue to provide innovative programming and will find new ways to serve diverse populations—including female entrepreneurs and first-generation college students. We will support student start-ups, social ventures, and projects to improve life on campus and the community. Regardless of the situation, we will be ready. We would be remiss if we did not acknowledge our many partners in the Boston University innovation ecosystem. These include BU Spark!, the BU Law Clinics, Sustainability@BU, the Engineering Product Innovation Center, the Biotechnology Entrepreneurship Center and the Office of Technology Development, to name but a few. These partners have all come together to provide our students with a vast array of resources and opportunities to start companies and nonprofits, or simply work on innovative ideas to improve life on campus. We could not accomplish our goals without their help. Finally, we thank all of you. Your financial support, suggestions, and encouragement has been invaluable, and words cannot express our sincere appreciation and gratitude. Sincerely,
Gerry Fine Executive Director
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Staff & Faculty
Advisory Board
Gerry Fine, Executive Director
Yousif Al Nowais (Parent Pardee’14)
Li Liang, Managing Director, BUild Lab IDG Capital Student
Billy Bloom (CGS’82, Questrom’84)
Innovation Center
Beverly Brown
Christine Armstrong, Program Manager
Richard Cohen (CGS’67, Questrom’69)
Lou Brum, Event Coordinator
Ryan Roth Gallo (LAW’99)
Rana Gupta, Director of Faculty Entrepreneurship
Ziad Dalloul (ENG’86)
Megha Krishnan, Marketing & Communications Manager
Carol Kaufman (CAS’71)
Lisa Lavina, Assistant Director of Operations
Ranch Kimball
Peter Marton, Director of Entrepreneurship Partnerships
Ken Menges (Questrom’79)
Ian Mashiter, Director of Curriculum
Alicia C. Mullen (CAS’83, Parent CAS’19)
Micaelah Morrill, Director of External Relations
Allen Questrom (Questrom’64, Hon.’15)
Siobhan O’Mahony, Academic Director of Research & Curriculum
Hugo Shong (COM’87)
Tom Samph, Program Director, Business Ventures
Lou Volpe (Questrom’78)
Blake Sims St. Louis, Program Director, Social Innovation
Collin Yip (Questrom’12)
Greg Stoller, Affiliated Faculty, Questrom School of Business
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KEY NU M B E RS
4,090
285
total participants including
registered student-led companies,
alumni, faculty, staff, and
non-profits, or project teams
students from BU’s 17 schools and colleges
519 attendees at the annual
12 student-led companies or nonprofits participating in the Summer Accelerator
student-focused IDEA Conference
$232,100 awarded to student and alumni
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ventures + projects
All 17 BU schools and colleges represented
106
at our programs
students enrolled in the new university-wide Minor in Innovation and Entrepreneurship
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202 0 -2 02 1 P R OGRAMS Innovation Pathway Innovate@BU’s signature program, sponsored by Cynthia Cohen (MET), provides a self-paced process, resources, and progress funding to help students and recent alumni launch a new venture or project.
New Venture Competition A three-round pitch competition with two tracks, one for tech ideas and one for social impact ideas. The competItion awards a total of $64,000 to the top 12 teams.
Summer Accelerator A 10-week program that provides BU startups with a $10,000 stipend, mentorship, and workshops.
Sustainability Seed Grants A program that provides $500 grants to students with ideas that support BU’s climate action goals.
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Minor A University-wide undergraduate minor that helps students build an entrepreneurial mindset and teaches them how to launch ideas that have economic and social impact.
Starting a Start-Up Cocurricular A weekly course that shows students how to apply the lean canvas to an idea.
Launching a Project Cocurricular A weekly course that walks students through the process of launching ideas like policy recommendations, advocacy programs, community events, and creative content projects.
IDEA Conference The premier one-day event for college students in New England to explore innovation and entrepreneurship, sponsored by Lou Volpe (Questrom’78).
The New Normal Challenge The New Normal Challenge—conceived through a partnership with the BU Dean of Students Office, BU Student Government, and UMOJA: Boston University Black Student Union, provided an opportunity for students to be heard by key decision-makers, as well as develop their own innovative ideas for life on and off-campus.
Start-up Bootcamps Innovate@BU offered a series of daylong and half-day Start-up Bootcamps this past year. These bootcamps are crash courses that utilize hands-on learning in foundational topics such as: encompassing the design thinking process, customer discovery, solution and business model development, goto-market strategy, and developing the entrepreneurial mindset.
Mentorship Innovation Network A network of more than 320 external and alumni experts who serve as mentors, competition judges, and officehour hosts.
Community Impact Challenge: Wellbeing Through a partnership between the Wellbeing Project, BU Student Government, and UMOJA: Boston University Black Student Union, Innovate@BU launched the Community Impact Challenge: Wellbeing, where students from over nine schools and colleges around Boston University developed ideas to promote wellbeing in their communities at BU and beyond while living through a global pandemic.
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KE Y P RO G RAM S
New Venture Competition (NVC) 2020 Social Impact Track Winner, RefEd
Celebrating 21 Years of the New Venture Competition Over the last 21 years, more than 700 teams of Boston University (BU) Terriers have put forth new and innovative ideas through the New Venture Competition, and over $171K has been awarded in cash prizes. These teams have represented every BU school and college, with their ideas encompassing a wide variety of industries in the form of new technologies, for-profit ventures, and nonprofits. For some, the competition has served as a launching point to take their venture to the next level or to make entrepreneurship their full-time role. And for others, it gave them the skills, confidence, and mindset needed to create impact through their careers and in their communities. “I have obviously been impressed by many of our finalists and winners and it has been great to see them be successful with their new ventures in subsequent years,” said Ian Mashiter, Innovate@BU’s Director of Curriculum and Questrom School of Business Senior Lecturer of Strategy and Innovation. “But it has also been great to help and coach students in how to pitch. It has helped them develop a confidence and belief in themselves that will be invaluable to them in their chosen occupation after graduation.” 8
A core component of Innovate@BU’s mission is to help students cross-collaborate and to form teams across the University’s schools and colleges. As the New Venture Competition has grown since Innovate@BU was formed, Siobhan O’Mahony, Innovate@BU’s Academic and Research Director and Questrom professor of Strategy and Innovation, said that she noticed a dramatic change in team formation at BU. “We used to see one student come to us with an idea and ask for help on how to develop it, as an individual aspiration,” said O’Mahony. “Now we see whole teams of students from different schools and colleges across BU and that has been so satisfying—to see the university launch whole teams of entrepreneurs instead of just one entrepreneur! Innovate@BU has amplified the effect of the New Venture Competition to link students across campus, to help them convert their good ideas into impact.” New Venture Competition Fast-facts: • • •
The competition was founded by BU’s Questrom School of Business. Between 2014-2017, the BUzz Lab, the University’s first entrepreneurship center, oversaw the competition. In 2018, the BU BUzz Lab was ultimately absorbed by the launch of Innovate@BU and its home on campus, the BUild Lab IDG Capital Student Innovation Center.
New Venture Competition (NVC) Pitch & Pizza Event, January 2020.
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The competition has been organized by Innovate@BU’s program department ever since. Over $171,000 has been awarded in cash prizes. In 2019, a 2-track system was put in place for General Ideas and Social Impact Ideas, doubling the prize money to $64,000 split among six teams.
“The competition has grown considerably in the years I have been involved,” said Mashiter. “The addition of a social impact track has been important and the popularity of this reflects the fact that many students want to be changemakers and are focused on building ventures that make the world a better place.” On Friday, April 16, 2020, the New Venture Competition Finale was held. Each of the twelve finalists presented a 60-second pitch before the following top three winners were announced in each track: General Ideas and Social Impact Ideas.
2nd Place: $8,000 General Track: Sky International Music Education, a company that provides online music lessons from teachers around the world and students in China. Social Impact Track: Turn In. Reach Out., a place for resources for an entire family to learn and practice meditation, community building, expressive arts, and emotional intelligence. 3rd Place: $6,000 General Track: Phonetic Beats, a company that teaches phonetic literacy to small children using trap/music music. Social Impact Track: Viinko, is making time management and organization education accessible for all students. Viinko integrates into a school’s curriculum, making the essential life skills or time management and organization a part of every student’s education.
1st Place: $18,000 General Track: Mount, a company that uses its IOT smart lock and fleet management system to launch electric scooters at Airbnb and vacation rental properties. Social Impact Track: RefEd, a mobile, interactive app designed specifically for refugee students without consistent access to education. 9
An Innovation Pathway for New Ideas The Innovation Pathway, generously sponsored by university trustee Cynthia Cohen (MET), provides students with a selfpaced process through two tracks to launch a new venture or project by guiding them toward necessary resources like funding, leadership-skill building, and mentoring. Students and student teams pick one of two tracks that is analogous to the idea that they are working on. The Venture Track is for an idea supported by a sustainable and scalable business model, including for profit and nonprofit. All types of ideas are welcomed, whether they are technology or non-technology based. Examples include: ventures focused on culture, creativity/arts, education, finance, food, health, future of work, sustainability, social impact, wellness, and more. The Project Track is for an action-oriented idea aimed at creating a positive impact on campus and beyond. Examples include: new policies, advocacy events, media campaigns, creative content, and more. The Innovation Pathway consists of four stages: Get Inspired, Walk, Run, and Fly. Within each stage is a series of resources to use, and milestones to complete. During the Walk and Run stages, teams are given the chance to pitch for seed grants ranging from $1,000–$3,000. Many teams that took advantage of the resources offered through the Innovation Pathway have gone on to achieve significant milestones. Viinko—a Run stage team on the Innovation Pathway—ensures that time management and organization education is accessible for all students. Viinko integrates into a school’s curriculum, making the essential life skills of time management and organization a part of every student’s education. Viinko not only won third place (Social Impact track) in the New Venture Competition, but was also a part of the 2021 Summer Accelerator cohort.
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282
56%
30%
registered teams
undergrad teams
graduate teams
Get Inspired: Explore an Idea In this stage, students are encouraged to explore their ideas.
Walk: Validate Your Idea This stage helps students interview potential customers and validate their idea.
Run: Launch Your Idea Whether it’s a finished product or a beta version, the Run stage is all about launching and growing the idea.
Fly: Scale Your Idea When ready, teams are connected with community resources to help them scale.
On Innovate@BU’s programs, Victoria Kinnealey (QST’21), the CEO and Founder of Viinko said, “the advisory network within the BUild Lab and the Innovate@ BU community is invaluable. We have gained so many impactful insights and observations from our Summer Accelerator mentors, and we hope to continue that engagement through the summer and beyond!” This year, 282 student teams joined the Innovation Pathway and $13,500 was awarded in seed grants.
2021 Cohort Viinko is making time management and organization education accessible for all students. Viinko integrates into a school’s curriculum, making the essential life skills of time management and organization a part of every student’s education. Tom Samph, Program Director for Business Ventures, addresses the Summer Accelerator cohort in the BUild Lab IDG Capital Student Innovation Center
Summer Accelerator On June 7, 2021, Innovate@BU kicked off its annual Summer Accelerator program. The Summer Accelerator is a prestigious 10-week program that provides weekly education sessions, paired mentors, in-kind startup resources, and a $10,000 stipend to each participating startup team. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Summer Accelerator program was held both virtually and in-person, with the help of Zoom, Slack, and additional in-person staff support. On August 12, 2021, at the virtual Summer Accelerator Demo Day, each team presented their pitches to small panels of industry experts who could choose to offer their time for a future mentorship call. Demo Day pitches addressed the following areas: •
Problem & Customer
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Solution & Value Proposition
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Go-to Market Strategy
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Revenue Model & Financials
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Team Strength
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Social impact
Nudgepop is a marketing tool that helps businesses improve conversions on their website, engage their audience, and get quick insights. The Green Line Groupe, Inc. is creating a financial platform for the trade signaling industry, aiming to optimize communications between analysts and their clientele.
Yogger is a web and mobile platform that allows Physical Therapists to gather and analyze movement data with ease. The Stateless Collective trains students for studying, working, researching, and volunteering abroad through online modules and an ethically oriented community platform. envelope.network is a user-first ad network making digital ads right for everyone. RefEd Initiative utilizes a mobile application to bridge gaps in access to education, and has become the first provider of accessible, tailored, and original educational content to refugee students ages 10-14.
OSB is a mobile iGaming platform that simplifies betting and allows users to make predictions in real-time on events as they are televised. Raiz Cuidado a Granel is a low-waste, multibrand store of natural personal care and cleaning products along with refill services that offer everything their customers want in the easiest way possible, in order to facilitate adoption of new consumption habits.
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Hub Cocurriculars Innovate@BU offers two Hub Cocurriculars that provides students with a way to earn a Hub unit outside of the classroom (Hub units are part of BU’s undergraduate general education curriculum, known as the BU HUB). This year’s co-curriculars included Hub CC 161: Starting a Startup—a weekly course that showed students how to apply the lean canvas to an idea; and Hub CC 163: How to Launch a Project—a weekly course that walks students through the process of launching ideas like policy recommendations, advocacy programs, community events, or media and content campaigns. These sessions are also available as weekly drop-in workshops for students not enrolled in the co-curricular but want to enhance specific entrepreneurial skills like marketing, operations, budgeting, pitching, and idea validation. Some of the projects in the past year covered a broad range of topics, including: • • 12
Education for young girls in India about menstrual health Increased access to nutritional foods in Indonesia
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Program to increase women in STEM Reallocating funding in school districts Improved COVID masks in the US Programs to support women working in industries that are hypersexualized High school resources to increase voter participation among youth in America
Of her experience in Hub CC 163: Launching a Project, Sydney Pickering (CGS ’20, CAS ’22) said, “I’ve grown considerably, especially in the learning outcome of validating and iterating on ideas through experiments and feedback. Before this class I did not have a network of people to bounce ideas with and receive constructive feedback from. I now feel comfortable pitching, receiving feedback, and adapting my plans.” The demand for these Hub Cocurriculars have consistently grown, and Innovate@BU expects to see around 50 students enrolled in these programs in Fall 2021.
Sustainability Seed Grants The Sustainability Innovation Seed Grant Program has served as an entry point for students across the University to test the waters of innovation and idea development. With $500 seed grants and other resources offered by BU Sustainability and Innovate@BU, students are empowered to kick-start a project or develop an intervention that tackles the leading sustainability challenges facing Boston University. Many teams had to contend with the challenges that Covid-19 posed, and had to come up with creative solutions to implement their projects. Some of the project ideas involved: harnessing latent energy in slow-moving bodies of water to produce renewable electricity, sustainable takeout container disposal during the covid-19 pandemic, and addressing environmental + racial justice through experiential urban foraging. This year, 29 grants were awarded to teams, totaling $12,850 from 12 schools and colleges.
Start-up Bootcamps Innovate@BU offered a series of day-long and half-day Start-up Bootcamps this past year. These bootcamps are crash courses that utilize hands-on learning in foundational topics such as: innovation and entrepreneurship—encompassing the design thinking process, customer discovery, solution and business model development, go-to-market strategy, market sizing, financial modeling, and the entrepreneurial mindset. Li Liang, the Managing Director of the BUild Lab IDG Capital Student Innovation Center said that the Start-up Bootcamps were created specifically to help students learn the skills for identifying innovation opportunities, and developing innovative solutions to create impact. “For students who may not be thinking about developing or launching their own startup or project ideas, we wanted to help them learn and apply useful, relevant concepts and skills for problem solving while creating impact in their lives and careers,” Liang said. To date, Innovate@BU has hosted over 140 participants in the Bootcamps, including undergraduate, graduate, PhD students, and recent alums from various schools and colleges across Boston University.
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The Fourth Annual IDEA Conference welcomed 519 attendees The annual IDEA Conference (IDEA CON), generously sponsored by Lou Volpe (QST ‘78) Managing Partner of Kodiak Venture Partners, is a one-day event for Bostonarea students to explore innovation and entrepreneurship. Whether through technology, social impact, or arts and culture, Innovate@BU empowers all students to embrace their passions and apply it towards creating meaningful impact. In 2021, IDEA CON was held virtually and welcomed over 500 attendees from more than 20 colleges and universities. One of the cornerstones of Innovate@BU is to empower and encourage BU Terriers to think outside-the-box, problemsolve creatively, and pivot at a moment’s notice. Embodying that spirit, Wendy Swart Grossman, the Strategic Director of IDEA Conference 2021 and co-founder of Creative Re/Frame said, “when I was first approached by the BUild Lab team to be the Creative Practitioner-In-Residence and Strategic Director of IDEA CON 2021, I thought—with IDEA CON going virtual, what an incredible opportunity to think in wildly different ways.” This year, the keynote speaker was Malia Lazu—a powerful culture creator and strategist whose instinct and clarity have 14
changed cities, institutions, and organizations throughout the US and abroad. Malia has been using strategy and the connective tissue of community networks to build diversity in authentic ways and create consistent impact. The morning of IDEA CON began with a welcome from Siobhan Dullea, CEO of MassChallenge, followed by short and inspirational lightning talks from IGNITE Speakers who are alumni from colleges across the country—including Boston University, University of Massachusetts Lowell, University of Michigan, University of New Hampshire and more. As the day continued to unfold, the virtual setting was utilized to its maximum potential, with all the talks filmed and saved for posterity as a digital record, as an invaluable resource for information, and as a compelling repository of knowledge that is also readily accessible. The all-virtual setting also resulted in IDEA CON having its largest attendance to date, with 519 attendees and over 1200 registrants—that included attendees from all 17 BU schools. As Swart Grossman noted, “IDEA CON fills an important role as a welcoming place for all students new to the world of innovation, and provides them with inspiration to launch their own ideas as well as resources they need to realize their dreams.”
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Minor Since the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Minor launched in Fall 2019, student engagement has skyrocketed. 100+ students are enrolled in the minor. This interdisciplinary minor enables students pursuing any undergraduate major at BU to develop their ideas regardless of their field of expertise— empowering them to generate tangible economic and social impact in their areas of interest. The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Minor is not just for those who want to launch a startup but for students who want to learn how to be more entrepreneurial in all aspects of their lives. As a Film & TV major and a creative, Shereen Cohen Kheradyar (COM ‘22) has found the minor to be extremely invaluable in “learning about the business and entrepreneurial side of the entertainment industry.” The minor also teaches students a set of life skills, including: identifying unmet needs and new opportunities, leading creativity and ideation, and finally, collaboration and prototyping. This prepares students for careers in many domains, like Ezgi Eyigor (CAS ‘21) who is passionate about the interplay between human behavior, communication, psychology, and anthropology. Eyigor decided to participate in the minor in order to “establish a foundation for innovative thinking and turning a vision / passion into a sustainable reality.” Through experiential learning in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Minor, students take creative risks and lead ideation processes. They learn how to transition an idea into a communicable concept that can eventually gain support from others to become viable. “Innovation is a constant, regardless of what you choose for your career or profession. The minor teaches skills and frameworks that help students become innovators and difference-makers,” said Ian Mashiter, Innovate@BU’s Director of Curriculum and a Senior Lecturer in Questrom’s Strategy and Innovation department.
106 students declared in the minor
267 students enrolled in the required course for the minor, SI 250
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The New Normal Challenge COVID-19 has turned the world upside down this year and has required everyone to make sacrifices and adjustments in order to understand their “new normal”. While Boston University is committed to having students safely back on campus this fall as well as providing remote learning and engagement opportunities, the global pandemic continues to impact everyone for the foreseeable future, regardless of whether people are physically on or off-campus. Enter The New Normal Challenge—conceived through a partnership with the BU Dean of Students Office, BU Student Government, and UMOJA: Boston University Black Student Union. This challenge provided an opportunity for students to be heard by key decision-makers, as well as develop their own innovative ideas for life on and off-campus. Participants were given helpful resources and optional workshops to design equitable ideas and strong applications. On BU Student Government’s collaboration with Innovate@BU, Vice President David Joseph (CAS ‘22) said, “partnering went really well and we continue to support four to five teams. We
Community Impact Challenge: Wellbeing In October 2020, Innovate@BU partnered with the Wellbeing Project, BU Student Government, and UMOJA: Boston University Black Student Union to launch the Community Impact Challenge: Wellbeing, where students from over nine schools and colleges around Boston University developed ideas to promote wellbeing in their communities at BU and beyond while living through a global pandemic. These ideas ranged from fitness classes to book clubs to environmental health websites. Sixteen teams were chosen as finalists, and each team received a $500 seed grant to help them launch their projects, for a total of $8500 in funding across teams.
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enjoyed having people utilize StuGov as a resource—they came to us with valid questions, and we could help them.” This year, $5750 was awarded to 11 different ideas from teams representing over 11 schools and colleges.
Community Transit Design Challenge The Community Transit Design Challenge, a partnership between Innovate@ BU and the Massachusetts Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired (MABVI), successfully concluded in January 2021 as three teams led by BU students and recent alumni presented their venture ideas to solve community transit problems that will benefit society at large—especially for seniors, the blind, and the low vision community. The goal of the Community Transit Challenge between Innovate@BU and MABVI was to create a challenge for current BU students and alumni where they addressed a real world problem and solved it by adhering to the concepts of human-centered design throughout the entire process. The fulcrum of this goal was a desire by MABVI to ensure that students learned to design for people of all abilities. Through this process, the students and student teams could improve transit experiences for everyone.
dictate line, stop name, and travel direction. Sarah received $5,000 in seed money as well as a mentorship.
Over the last year, the teams fine-tuned their ideas with the help of workshops and learning sessions organized by Innovate@ BU and MABVI. Sarah Hillesheim (ENG ’21) was awarded the grand prize for her solution, Better Bus Stops. Better Bus Stops proposes installing high-contrast and tactile talking buttons at bus and above-ground T stops that 17
Fourth Annual Cannabis Start-up Competition On Wednesday, November 18, 2020, Innovate@BU transformed its 4th annual Cannabis Start-up Competition Grand Finale Pitch night into a virtual event that welcomed over 100 attendees. Four start-up finalists, all co-founded by a BU student or alumni, presented a six-minute pitch to a panel of expert judges that included Kim Napoli, senior director of corporate social responsibility for Parallel, Jaime Lewis, managing director and co-founder of Coldwater Consulting, and Peter Bleyleben, partner at Converge Venture Partners. While the judges deliberated, representatives from cannabis policy reform organizations, including Marijuana Policy Project, Last Prisoner Project, and Students for Sensible Drug Policy, presented updates from their field and opportunities to support their work. After a tough deliberation, the $10,000 grand prize was awarded to MBA student Chris Donaldson (QST ’22) and his start-up EROWTH, an AI and spectral analysis start-up that aims to provide quality control for cannabis manufacturers. This year’s finalists also included: Budrisk, co-founded by James Boynton (QST ’07), specializes in risk management for the cannabis industry as strategic advisors helping companies navigate the insurance roadmap. Climate Smart Cannabis Growing, co-founded by Sarabeth Buckley (PhD candidate, Earth & Environment), is an app that uses “energy aikido” to work with, not against, the Electric Grid– saving money and climate. GreenShare, co-founded by Matthew Farmer (ENG ’15), Yassine el Yousifi (ENG ’16), and William Belt (COM ’16), connects landowners who are open to growing cannabis to growers with the know-how and drive to get it done. The competition was founded in 2017 by BU alumni Jeffrey M. Zucker (QST ’10) and Mike Bologna (QST ’10), co-founders of Green Lion Partners, a Denver, CO-based business strategy firm focused on early-stage development in the regulated cannabis industry. Zucker and Bologna created the competition to 18
heighten awareness that the cannabis industry provides viable career and entrepreneurship opportunities and to encourage social activism as a part of any new start-up–which is why competition ideas must be ancillary business ideas and must incorporate a social impact component into its mission. For Innovate@BU, the competition provides BU students and alumni an opportunity to test an idea and learn from experts, and to apply their major or expertise—from engineering to sustainability to finance or computer science—to a growing industry. In addition to supporting the finalist teams with pitch coaching and preparation, Zucker and Bologna also provided the grand prize of $10,000, and consulting services from Green Lion Partners.
Mentors and Office Hours Many students are still learning how to build their ideas, teams, and support systems. Exposing students to mentors allows them to build relationships, develop their own networks, gain important feedback, and be better prepared for the world beyond Boston University. With over 320 outside experts willing to give their time and share their experiences, Innovate@BU has been able to broaden its reach across the Northeast’s innovation community and provide students with unrivaled access to individuals invested in their success. From mentorship relationships to office hours to competition judges, the BU alumni & community members who donate their time and interact with students add an important component to the growth of student innovators. Boston University Mentorship Innovation Network (BU MIN) Launched in October 2019, the Boston University Mentorship Innovation Network (BU MIN) offers Innovation Pathway participants with a chance to be paired with a mentor who will work with them for at least six months to help them grow as a team, as a venture, and as innovators. Who Is BU MIN? The Boston University Mentorship Innovation Network (MIN) is a group of current BU students, alumni, parents, local executives, community leaders and more, who have come together to help move good ideas towards positive impact. BU MIN matches seasoned entrepreneurs or business executives as mentors to an aspiring BU innovator. This Program strives to galvanize the innovative culture at BU, and accelerate the impact created by students and alumni. Why BU MIN? BU MIN exists to help students by connecting them with experienced guides, while simultaneously empowering mentors to give back by sharing what they’ve learned. Starting a new company, non-profit, or idea can be hard, and in this way, BU MIN strives to make things easier.
What Does BU MIN Do? BU MIN consists of conveners, educators, and action-oriented people who are here to help the BU community charge forward as positive changemakers. Through BU MIN, eligible student teams are paired with a mentor. Pairs are managed by the Director of the Mentoring Program and subject to interest alignment. Once paired, mentors and mentees can determine how often and how long they meet; however, the BU MIN does have guidelines and support available to make sure that the pairing is a success. Office Hours Weekly office hours complement the robust programming offered at the BUild Lab IDG Capital Student Innovation Center by providing students with a chance to meet with a wide range of experts while building their networks. Staff and external experts continued to host virtual office hours while campus was closed. Innovate@BU currently retains about 71 mentors, and over 57 experts who host office hours regularly over a huge range of topics.
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Innovation Research Projects Research. It was a busy year in the New Venture Lab with the launch of a research project involving a team of four students that examined how venture capital firms recruit, evaluate, and develop BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color) founders to foster more diverse high technology startups. This multi-year project will continue to examine how underrepresented founders are evaluated by potential investors, and will trace the progress of 50 founders admitted to a Fellowship Program. Collaborations among faculty and doctoral students produced three new papers this year. With former Innovate post-doctoral student Denise Falchetti, and Questrom faculty Esther Leibel, entrepreneurs in the food industry were analyzed on their usage of different pitching techniques to either develop new tie-ups with investors, or to raise capital. “When Money Isn’t Everything—Explaining Different Patterns of Entrepreneur Resource Acquisition” has been submitted for publication. Doctoral student Rebecca Karp studied 28 digital health firms to understand how they sell digital innovations to large, mature organizations. “Expanding the Entrepreneurial Toolkit: Explaining the interplay of the substantive and the symbolic” has been submitted for publication. Doctoral student Amisha Miller (with Professor Susan Cohen from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia) examined how 12 entrepreneurial founders in the agriculture and food industry learn from external advice and feedback. They discovered that advice was rarely applied wholesale but used to test new hypotheses which expanded a venture’s strategic scope. “Coproducing Relevant Advice: How Advice Interactions Shape the Breadth of Entrepreneurial Strategy Testing” will be submitted for publication this Fall. Outreach. Director of Curriculum, Ian Mashiter, and Academic Director, Siobhan O’Mahony organized three exciting panels tackling different challenges in innovation. Corporate leaders from
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Siobhan O’Mahony, Innovate@BU Academic Director, Research and Curriculum Professor, Strategy and Innovation Dean’s Research Fellow
Easter Labs Eastern Bank, Hanover Insurance Group, and Mediakind discussed how entrepreneurs and innovators can thrive in a world of constraints. Jeff Bezos’ former Chief of Staff, Colin Bryar and Amazon’s former VP of Digital Media, Bill Carr, spoke about their new book Working Backwards: Insights, Stories and Secrets from Inside Amazon. Startup experts, Steve Blank and Alex Osterwalder also joined us to talk about Innovate or Die: The Future of Corporate Innovation. The first 75 attendees received a copy of each speaker’s book. O’Mahony and Mashiter were excited to host these leaders and have them engage with students. All three events were videotaped and are available online. Recognition. Two students vital to the Venture Lab graduated with great acclaim. Research Assistant, Veronica EscobarMesa a Questrom Student who collaborated on several Innovate projects over the last three years, received the Poets and Quants 2021 Best and Brightest Top Undergraduate Award. Doctoral student Rebecca Karp, who studied digital health startups, also graduated this May and is now a Harvard Business School professor. Academic Director Siobhan O’Mahony received the Questrom Broderick Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Doctoral Program in 2021.
SU CCESS STO R IES Innovate@BU believes that knowing how to think like an entrepreneur is crucial to careers in any field. From high-stakes pitch competitions to marketing workshops to office hour sessions, this skillset is embedded into the learning outcomes of every program, event, and resource offered by Innovate@BU and the BUild Lab IDG Capital Student Innovation Center. Whether an artist, teacher, doctor, marketer, or business owner; feeling comfortable with change, knowing how to build a strong team, stewarding collaboration, and leading with strong ethics will set the stage for BU students and alumni to create meaningful impact in their lives, careers, and communities.
The Outstanding Emerging Entrepreneurship Center Award On Friday, October 30, at the annual Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC), Boston University’s BUild Lab IDG Capital Student Innovation Center received the Outstanding Emerging Entrepreneurship Center award. This year’s GCEC conference was held virtually by the Toesh Center of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at University of Las Vegas, Nevada. The annual award honors entrepreneurship centers that are five years old or less and have demonstrated success in a variety of areas including student participation; establishing and achieving its goals and objectives; and engagement from faculty, alumni, donors, and the local entrepreneurship community. The BUild Lab is one of four emerging centers to receive this award along with Furman University, Eastern Washington University, and Smith College. “Since the day that the BUild Lab opened almost three years ago, I have been so proud of the work done by everyone, including faculty, staff, student interns, and all of the student teams working so hard to convert their ideas into impact. I am gratified that the global entrepreneurship center community has recognized the unique programming offered at the
BUild Lab, the enthusiastic embrace given by the student community, and the skill and talent of the staff, who work so hard every day,” said Gerry Fine, Executive Director of Innovate@BU. The Innovate@BU initiative and the BUild Lab opened its doors to the BU community in February 2017 after a oneyear benchmarking study was led by Siobhan O’Mahony, Questrom School of Business professor of Strategy and Innovation and Innovate@BU’s Academic Director of Curriculum and Research, and Ian Mashiter, Questrom Senior Lecturer of Strategy and Innovation and Innovate@BU’s Director of Curriculum. Since then, the BUild Lab team has established a variety of experiential learning programs that seek to instill a keen understanding of social entrepreneurship, business innovation, and cultural engagement such that no matter their field of study, students graduate knowing what it takes to convert an idea into something concrete and impactful, becoming drivers of innovation in their own lives, careers, and communities. These programs include competitions, workshops, classes, an annual innovation conference, and its signature program—the Innovation Pathway, a self-paced process that helps students transform venture and project ideas into something real.
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“This award is a great testament to the strategic planning that went into creating this center, to the continuous hard work of our team, and to the students who are taking actions to learn and create impact,” said Li Liang, Managing Director of the BUild Lab. Every year since opening, participation in BUild Lab programming has grown. During the 2019-2020 academic year alone: 3,096 students and community members participated in 197 programs; 230 teams joined the Innovation Pathway; 97 teams competed in the New Venture Competition; and $216,000 was awarded to student and recent alumni ventures and projects. “This award is a reiteration that we have great student innovators and entrepreneurs at BU. Our students are engaged, motivated and eager to change the world. It’s also a reflection of our partners throughout the University. This would not have happened without the contributions from both the Technology and Start-Up Law Clinics, BU Spark!, the Engineering Product Innovation Center, BU Sustainability, and innumerable other groups. We did not do this alone–it is a great credit to the entire BU community,” said Fine.
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Since March, the BUild Lab has delivered all of its programs virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic and has experimented with a variety of new platforms and engagement methods. Despite the challenges of virtual programs, students continue to show interest in developing new and meaningful ideas; since September 1, 59 new teams have joined the Innovation Pathway. “This is an incredible milestone, but we have only just begun. Our team will continue to lead with passion and our shared values, and we look forward to growing our reach and impact,” said Liang.
BostInno’s 25 Under 25 Sarah Greisdorf (CAS’20) and Sarika Ram (CAS’21) have been named to BostInno’s 25 Under 25 honoree list. Every year, the list honors young leaders from across Massachusetts who are creating meaningful impact through start-ups, nonprofits, community projects, and more. Greisdorf and Ram are both active Innovate@BU and BUild Lab community members who have participated in its Summer Accelerator, Innovation Pathway, and New Venture Competition. Greisdorf is the founder and CEO of Holdette, a women’s workwear company that focuses on functional clothing for Gen Z women. Ram is the creator and host of Criminalized, a podcast that discusses the U.S. legal system through the perspective of returning citizens. She is also the COO of Surge Employment Solutions, a training and placement service for returning citizens.
Selected Active Student Teams From Around the University
and secured a spot in the 2021 Summer Accelerator cohort. In partnership with nonprofits and entrepreneurs like Platform Africa and Anzisha Impact HUB, RefEd will make education accessible to children in two of Uganda’s largest refugee camps.
RefEd
Albert Jimenez (Wheelock‘21), Yasmin Morais (CAS’18), Abhishek Valivarthi (Sargent‘21) RefEd’s vision is to reach refugee children all over the globe with an accessible and tailored curriculum which allows them to continue their studies and feel ready to re-enter the education system when resettled. The RefEd team won first place in the Social Impact Track in this year’s New Venture Competition
Airflow Seating System Technologies
Cooper Shifrin (ENG’22), Rushan Manek (ENG’23) Airflow Seating System Technologies is solving the problems presented by the prevention and treatment of pressure injuries for people with reduced mobility. They achieve this by creating a cushioning system that moves pressure based on sensor inputs. This venture was
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founded by Cooper Shifrin, a member of the 2019-2020 FirstYear Innovation Fellowship, which is a program that brings together a cohort of incoming first-year students who have a passion for innovation and entrepreneurship. The Airflow Seating System Technologies team was a General Ideas Track finalist in this year’s New Venture Competition.
Viinko
Victoria Kinnealey (QST’22), Doug Waters Viinko integrates into a school’s curriculum, making the essential life skills of time management and organization a part of every student’s education with their app. The Viinko team placed third in the Social Impact Track in this year’s New Venture Competition and secured a spot in the 2021 Summer Accelerator cohort. Recently, the team sat down with Edward Li, CEO and CoFounder of Barnabas Robotics, on the Interconnected podcast to talk about teaching kids to manage tasks in both their academic and personal lives.
The Stateless Collective
Hailey Hart-Thompson (CAS’21, COM’21), Jessica Weber (Sargent’22), Mohammad Ahsan Fuzail (ENG’20), Yongyuan (Steve) Huang (CAS’22), Cam Reimer (CAS’23), Adia Armstrong (Pardee’20), Maria Camila Vargas (Pardee’21), Madison Calvert (Sargent’21), Naomi Richmond (COM’22), Jack Giunta (CAS’22) The Stateless Collective trains students for studying, working, researching, and volunteering abroad through online modules and an ethicallyoriented community platform. The team is led by Hailey Hart-Thompson, the recipient of the 2021 Innovate@BU Student Innovator of the Year award. The Stateless Collective
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was one of the Social Impact Track finalists in this year’s New Venture Competition. This summer, The Stateless Collective joined Innovate@BU’s Summer Accelerator cohort where they received in-kind startup resources, were paired with a mentor, and gained a $10,000 stipend.
Holdette
Sarah Greisdorf (CAS’20), Shea Robinson (COM’20), Cameryn Blake (University of Cincinnati), Abby Walsh (Elon University) Holdette makes professional workwear with real pockets for women entering the workforce. Sarah Greisdorf, CEO and Founder of Holdette, was named one of BostInno’s 25 under 25 in 2020. During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Holdette team launched a virtual mentorship program aimed at young women entering the workforce and distributed it’s first line of women’s business suits with functional pockets. In addition to its outside acclaim, the Holdette team has participated in Innovate@BU’s Innovation Pathway, New Venture Competition, and Summer Accelerator.
PA RT N E RS Innovate@BU’s Partners provide student ventures with important tools to help them succeed as they grow their ideas, teams, customers, and organizations.
Industry and Ecosystem Partners
Arielle Kimbarovsky (COM’21) tested out the BUild Lab’s new dry-erase walls by creating a celestial-themed mural that reads, “There is always space for new ideas.”
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University Partners
Engineering Product Innovation Center (EPIC) EPIC is a 15,000 sq ft maker-space that includes a machine shop, design and collaboration studios, a materials characterization laboratory, a metals foundry and a wood shop. The Center works closely with key industry partners at the forefront of advanced product design and manufacturing innovation in the region to provide students with the skills required to prosper in the innovation economy. On a daily basis, EPIC serves as a key resource for classes throughout the University and for student entrepreneurs needed to prototype their ideas for new hardware start-ups. Web: bu.edu/eng/current-students/epic
BU Arts The Boston University Arts Initiative ensures that the arts are fundamental to the student experience by developing and supporting university-wide programs to advance the role of the arts at BU through building community; supporting interdisciplinary arts teaching, learning, and research; and highlighting diverse artists and modes of artistry. Web: bu.edu/arts
BU Sustainability The mission of BU Sustainability is to lead the University in a more sustainable direction and integrate sustainability into the culture and structure of Boston University. Implementing the Climate Action Plan (CAP) will allow the University to reduce its use of natural resources, operating costs, and improve environmental and social impacts. Web: bu.edu/sustainability
BU Spark! Housed at Boston University’s Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences, BU Spark! aims to help students realize their potential and passion by providing access to resources, knowledge, and expert 26
networks to support their innovation and applied learning journeys. BU Spark! is a technology incubator and experiential learning lab for computer science and engineering projects. Web: bu.edu/spark
Startup Law Clinics The BU Startup Law Clinic and Technology Law Clinics provide invaluable pro bono advice and legal services to student entrepreneurs. Services are provided by BU School of Law Students, under attorney supervision. Since Innovate@BU’s launch in 2018, the law clinics have become a top-recommended resource among the community. Web: bu.edu/startuplaw
Bioengineering Technology & Entrepreneurship Center (BTEC) BTEC is a 5000-square-foot, bioengineering “maker space” with a Molecular, Cellular, and Tissue Engineering Suite, a Biosensors and Instrumentation Suite, and a Digital and Predictive Medicine Design Suite. Courses in BTEC provide students with experiential education in all three areas. Excitingly, BTEC also enables students to engage open-ended innovation on their own and in partnerships with industry. Web: bu.edu/eng/alumni/btec
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