CHICAGO– The University of Chicago’s Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation is pleased to announce the launch of DeepTechU, a venture conference showcasing deep tech innovation and 48 investor-ready companies from universities and national labs.
The virtual conference will take place April 20-22, 2021, and feature quick pitches as well as discussions with industry experts and entrepreneurs.
The conference is presented in collaboration with Centrepolis Accelerator at Lawrence Technological University, Chain Reaction Innovations at Argonne National Laboratory, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Indiana University, Innovation Crossroads at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, The Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship at The Ohio State University, Penn State University, Purdue University, NuTech Ventures at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, Northwestern University, Rutgers University, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Iowa, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, University of Nebraska, Washington University in St. Louis, and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Additional partners include Clean Energy Trust, Discovery Partners Institute, Illinois Science & Technology Coalition, P33, Startup Chicago, and World Business Chicago.
“The Midwest is uniquely positioned to lead in deep tech, meaning the types of early-stage technologies that require fundamental breakthroughs to advance science and move innovations into use in the world,” said Juan de Pablo, University of Chicago Vice President for National Laboratories, Science Strategy, Innovation, and Global Initiatives. “The Midwest is home to some of the world’s premier efforts in materials science and engineering, sustainability, energy storage, or quantum information sciences, to name a few areas that are central to deep tech development.”
The goal of the conference is two-fold: provide early looks into cutting-edge deep tech innovation emerging from universities, national labs, and partner organizations in the greater-Midwest, and educate other researchers and faculty inventors on what investors are looking for to successfully raise capital.
“We believe deep tech will play an essential role in addressing many of the challenges facing society today, by responding quickly to develop new therapies, agricultural solutions, and transformational uses for synthetic biology,” said Chris Meldrum, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at DCVC Bio. “I’m excited to participate in DeepTechU to not only draw attention to the breakthroughs happening in deep tech, but also to highlight the innovative work coming out of the Midwest.”
DeepTechU is organized by the University of Chicago’s Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, which has a 25-year successful track record applying world-class business expertise from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business to bring new ideas and groundbreaking innovations to market.
“The Polsky Center launched DeepTechU to help shine a brighter light on all the emerging deep technologies coming out of the greater Midwest,” said Jay Schrankler, Associate Vice President and Head of the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. “There is incredible work being done here and we are excited to partner with top research institutions and Big 10 schools in supporting breakthrough innovations that will change the way we live in the future.”
