The University of Vermont will host an event highlighting the innovation and entrepreneurship of its students, faculty, staff and alumni on Monday, Oct. 17 at 9:30 a.m. in the Livak Ballroom in the UVM Davis Center.

The activities include an "Innovation Slam" and a keynote address by UVM alumnus and trustee Briar Alpert, CEO of Burlington-based BioTek.

The UVM events kick off BTV Ignite’s Innovation Week, Oct. 17 through 21, a series of events held in locations around the city that highlight Burlington’s emerging status as a hub of entrepreneurship and technological innovation.

The event will open with the Innovation Slam. Six UVM-affiliated innovators will each have five minutes -- and one slide -- to tell the stories of their new companies and products in a lightning round of talks.

The keynote address will follow.

Companies and founder-presenters participating in the Innovation Slam include (in the order they will present):  

  • BeaconVT, presented by current UVM student and co-founder Pete Silverman;
  • Packetized Energy, presented by co-founder Jeff Frolik, professor of electrical engineering in the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences;
  • GameTheory, presented by Shannon Mitchell of GameTheory and GameTheory client Lizzy Pope, assistant professor of Nutrition and Food Sciences in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and director of the Didactic Program in Dietetics;
  • EASY LLC, presented by Mike Coleman, co-founder and vice president;
  • SAP! Maple products, presented co-founder Chas Smith, a UVM SEMBA alumnus;
  • Mamava, presented by UVM alumna Sascha Mayer, co-founder.

After the presentations, presenters and company co-founders will be available to answer questions at tables displaying their products. The founding members of 15 other UVM-affiliated start-ups will also have displays at the event and be available for questions and discussion. 

BTV Ignite is a collaborative local effort to help organize the energy of the region’s technology and innovation ecosystem and to bind institutions, government, educators, businesses, non-profits, and entrepreneurs together.  

PUBLISHED

10-09-2016
Jeffrey R. Wakefield