“The Republic of Innovation” Global Entrepreneurship Week Events
The Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars at Syracuse University Libraries (LaunchPad) is celebrating “The Republic of Innovation” Global Entrepreneurship Week November 11 – 15, 2019. Many of the week’s activities are being sponsored by Todd B. Rubin ’04 (School of Architecture), Minister of Evolution and President of The Republic of Tea, through the Rubin Family Foundation.
Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) started in 2007 with 37 countries committing to support it; within a year it grew to over 77 countries and 3 million people participating in 25,022 events. Now it is a collection of thousands of events, activities and competitions around the world. At the LaunchPad, over 112 countries have been represented since its inception. This year’s competition at Syracuse is scheduled the week before “Global Entrepreneurship Week” being held by GEW November 18-24 to better accommodate the academic year schedule.
All events are open to the community free of charge. This year’s activities include:
- Monday, November 11, noon to 1 p.m.: Todd B. Rubin ’04 will kick-off the week with a keynote address in the Peter Graham Scholarly Commons (Room 114) at Bird Library. Light lunch refreshments and tea will be served.
- Monday, November 11 and Tuesday, November 12 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.: Impact Prize workshops in the LaunchPad on “wicked global problems” that lend themselves to global solutions. The twenty-one Impact Prize final teams will have the opportunity to work with mentors to explore the social impact of their ventures and shape their solutions.
- Monday, November 11 from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.: The Hult Power Hour, a workshop in the LaunchPad on sustainability and global climate change, in advance of the campus Hult Prize Competition for student impact entrepreneurship. This year’s theme is “Build a Smarter Business for a Better Planet,” focusing on addressing climate change. Deadline to apply is Friday, November 15.
- Tuesday, November 12 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.: Global Design Studio, a three-part event in the LaunchPad:
- 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.: Vipul Jain, partner at Baaya Design and co-founder and president of Catalysts for Social Action, and serial entrepreneur.
- 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.: Shibani Jain, founder and CEO of Baaya Design, founder of India’s frst e-commerce platform for craft products, and co-founder and trustee of Catalysts for Social Action.
- 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.: Women in Design Co-Work event
- Wednesday, November 13 from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.: Building an immersive entrepreneurial experience with Julia Haber, Newhouse ’18, founder of WAYV.
- Wednesday, November 13 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.: Qualifier competition for Entrepreneurs’ Organization’s Global Student Entrepreneur Awards, the premier global competition for student entrepreneurs who run a business. Two teams will represent Syracuse at the competition — PAANI, the recent first place winner of the ‘Cuse Tank competition at LaunchPad; and MedUX, a team that won last year’s Impact Prize Competition and is comprised of Rubin Family Innovation Mentors.
- Thursday, November 14 at 8 a.m. to Friday, November 15 at 8 p.m.: the MLB Challenge by the School of Information Studies (iSchool) at Hines Hall and Manley Field House.
- Thursday, November 14 from noon to 2 p.m.: Innovation Village at the Tech Garden in downtown Syracuse, with a resource fair of regional innovation ecosystem partners.
- Thursday, November 14 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.: Impact Prize Pitch Competition, coordinated by the LaunchPad, to support student entrepreneurs who are engaged in solving some of the world’s most pressing problems through innovation. The competition will be held at Syracuse University Libraries and is being funded through generous gifts from Dr. Gisela M. von Dran and Todd Rubin.
- Thursday, November 14 at 7:30 p.m.: University Lecture Series at Hendricks Chapel featuring “Young Alumni Entrepreneurs: Breaking the Rules, Blazing New Paths, Not Waiting Their Turn” is being co-sponsored in part by Syracuse University Libraries and the Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars. The event features alumni entrepreneurs who launched their businesses as students: Moderator, Kelsey Davis ’19 G’20, founder of CLLCVTE; Josh Aviv ’15 G’17, founder of SparkCharge; Julia Haber ’18, founder of WAYV; Erin Miller ’16, founder of Out There Productions; and Danile Folkman ’12, VP of Business Development, goPuff.
- Friday, November 15 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.: Popcycle fun popup shop of global student entrepreneurs, makers and creatives in the LaunchPad.
- Friday, November 15 from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.: How to pitch your idea to a global entrepreneurial world, by LaunchPad executive director Linda Hartsock at the Maxwell Citizenship and Civic Engagement program.
- Friday, November 15 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.: Globalists Live Musings in the LaunchPad, a panel by international students on How to Be a Change Agent in a Global World.
About the Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars at Syracuse University Libraries:
The Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars in Bird Library is Syracuse University’s innovation hub, connecting the entire University’s resource-rich ecosystem with a global network that provides support for aspiring entrepreneurs, inventors and creators. The program serves faculty, staff, students, and alumni across disciplines who are interested in innovation, invention, entrepreneurship, venture creation, and taking ideas from concept to commercialization. The program supports a key pillar of Syracuse University’s Academic Strategic Plan to create an innovation ecosystem across the institution that prepares participants to be trailblazers in an entrepreneurial world.