A Concert of Ideas: Join us for the first of three days of special programs in celebration of the launch of

The Renaissance Center for Knowledge Integration, Interdisciplinary Thinking and

Advanced Applications of Imagination at the University at Albany.

AGENDA

10:15 Arrivals and Registration

10:30 Welcome, Overview and The Concert of Ideas

12:10 Turning to One Another: Lunch and Conversation Circles

1:00 Sharing of Insights and Ideas

1:30 Panel: Synthesis and Vsion

Made possible by a generous grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York

A project of Creative Leaps International

Who should attend?

· Students interested in exploring ways to ignite innovative thoughts and entrepreneurial thinking.
· Faculty that wish to deepen their scholarship through orbital thought processes that expand interdisciplinary thinking and open pathways to new research opportunities.
· Entrepreneurs, freelancers and small business owners that have a connection to the creative economy and wish to experience how to integrate the creative and performing arts into their strategic thinking and planning.
· Entrepreneurial ecosystem thought leaders and administrators that want to share the gift of creativity and advanced applications of imagination with their constituents

What is the Renaissance Center?

The Renaissance Center is a revolutionary collaborative space and ideation laboratory for convening a diverse array of minds, methods, means and measures for positively impacting the course of some of society’s greatest challenges — a space of synergies and imagination that catalyzes new thinking, new perspectives, vital new relationships and partnerships. The Renaissance Center will cultivate and challenge the common interests of educators, leaders from business and government, artists, scientists and entrepreneurs, and serve as a springboard to collaboration, economic development, research and social change.

Who is Creative Leaps International?

Creative Leaps International (nonprofit, since 1992) is a highly innovative team of learning specialists, interdisciplinary thinkers, performing artists and scientists working worldwide as creative catalysts and agents of change in business, government, higher education and the social sector. They have performed their signature “Concerts of Ideas” as the centerpiece of hundreds of national and international gatherings on six continents, including projects of The White House, the United Nations, The Earth Summit, The World Bank, the Aspen Institute, the Center for Creative Leadership and scores of Fortune 500 corporations, including Pfizer, IBM, GE and Starbucks, as well as dozens of universities and business schools around the globe. Their performers are winners of more than 60 national and international awards and prizes for excellence and have performed on the stages of Carnegie Hall, Broadway, Lincoln Center and countless prestigious venues around the world.

Their most prized capacities are exceptional imagination and a gift for agile, 360° orbital thinking, that is, thinking generated from multiple perspectives — intellectually, culturally, across disciplines and generations. They are the founders and developers of the Renaissance Center concept.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLza4-xHK0k7kMSLSHHU83oBiXtVWVHsQo
(Open this hyperlink, then choose “Play All” to view playlist of excerpts in sequence)

Agenda (subject to change)
830am – Registration, Investor-Roundtable Standup, Startup Mixer
9:45am – Case study: “Connect. Innovate. Accelerate”
11am – Innovation Alley Expo and Working Lunch
12:10pm – Keynote Address by Pocket Sun (speaker bio)
1:10pm – Live Pitches w/ Q&A
2:30 pm – In the Spotlight – A Celebration of Licenses, Patents & Spinouts
2:45pm – Bright Awards

Registration closes on April 9, 2018 for Exhibitors and on April 25, 2018 for Attendees. Anyone wishing to register after the deadlines should contact Julianna Fortain (jellis9@buffalo.edu) to register.

RocGrowth Candids is a bi-monthly event featuring regional entrepreneurs share their personal stories and the lessons they’ve learned building successful businesses. We also feature innovative leaders who impact our community’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

REGISTER HERE

We are pleased to host Aaron Newman, a dynamic serial entrepreneur who, prior to founding CloudCheckr, already had several successful startups to his credit. Founded just seven years ago, CloudCheckr already employs more than 100 people in Rochester’s Village Gate. Aaron’s innovative approach to technology and community leadership falls right in line with RocGrowth’s vision of the New Rochester. If you too are interested in helping to shape the future of our community, this is an event you don’t want to miss!

We start and finish with informal kibitzing over drinks and hors d’oeuvres. As usual, we open with a brief performance by a local artist. In between, we conduct an open interview, followed by Q&A, with our featured guests. Event is free, but attendance is limited to the first 100 RSVPs. Register soon since the events “sell out.”

The event is free, thanks to our sponsor, Complemar. We humbly request a $5 donation to our host, the non-profit Downstairs Cabaret Theatre.

We look forward to seeing you there!

-The RocGrowth Team

Startup Tech Valley – Where entrepreneurs come together after hours!

Join us to hear pitches from:
Voiceter Pro, LLC – revolutionizing AI-assisted searches in the real estate industry and other markets
Taste – a personalized recommendation platform with an initial focus on the restaurant industry
Hudson Virtual Tours – 3D virtual tours transport you to any home or business
One-Simple Worldwide, Inc. – offering enterprise quality IT and cyber security for small-mid size businesses

Plus updates from Node40 and Leet Systems / CoLab!

The mission of the New York State High School Business Model Competition is to provide an opportunity for teams of entrepreneurship high school students to express ideas in an educationally competitive environment.

The students gain:
– practical entrepreneurial and communication skills
– an understanding of that their peers are developing
– an opportunity to improve their business model

Please join us in supporting our next generation entrepreneurs.

Celebrate four months of accomplishment with the five startups of the Spring 2018 AFRL Commercialization Academy cohort! The hard work and dedication by each startup will culminate with a pitch competition and networking at Demo Day, Thursday, May 31, 2018, at Griffiss Institute, Rome, NY! Please join us and help advance the entrepreneurial fabric here in New York State by helping to drive innovators toward success!

Griffiss Institute and Wasabi Ventures would like to invite you to join the five startups of the Spring 2018 Commercialization Academy cohort as they pitch a panel of judges, and live audience, on the companies they have built around Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate (AFRL/RI) technology. A judges’ vote and an audience vote will be held, with two cash prizes of $15,000 and $5,000, respectively, to be given to the winners of the two best pitches of the day.

That means each startup will have the opportunity to win much-needed seed money!

The five startups are: AudioStaq (Baltimore, MD), Go Figure (Utica, NY), idoolocal (Clinton, NY), Off the Cuff (Baltimore, MD), Pulse (Hanover, NH). Over the last four months, these entrepreneurs have received an abundance of tools and resources, including a startup educational platform that has taught each of them the logistics of building a startup.

2018 Spring Demo Day Agenda:

Emcee: Michele Pesula Kuegler, Program Manager at Wasabi Ventures

5:00 pm: Get to Know the Startups & Network
Talk to the teams at their booths, mingle, grab a bite of food & a cold beverage (Copper City Brewing Co.)

6:00 pm: Welcome & Opening Remarks

6:15 pm: Program Overview
Michele Pesula Kuegler, Program Manager at Wasabi Ventures

6:20 pm: Academy Pitches
AudioStaq
Go Figure
idoolocal
Off the Cuff
Pulse

6:55 pm: Alumni Presentations

7:10 pm: A Word from Our Supporters

7:20 pm: Thank Yous
Dan Fayette, Principal Engineer, Griffiss Institute

7:25 pm: Closing, Awards & Reception

* Agenda subject to change

On June 28th, 2018, the inaugural cohort of Luminate will participate in an exciting Demo Day event in the Big Tent of the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival! All 10 finalist companies will be pitching their optics, photonics, and imaging startups, and one team will be awarded $1 million in follow-on funding from the Empire State Development’s Finger Lakes Forward initiative. An additional $1 million is also available to be awarded to other finalist companies.

We hope you’ll join us for this exciting event! There will be food available for purchase from a variety of vendors, and you’ll get to hear about some truly incredible innovations in the optics, photonics, and imaging industry.

This event is free, but registration is required to reserve your seat!