There is no guidebook for every path that entrepreneurs navigate, but there are those that have been on the path before who can point way. That's why our volunteer mentors are crucial here at the University of Pittsburgh Innovation Institute. Our mentors provide support for Pitt faculty, students, and staff ranging from pitch preparation to honest, real world business input. They are integral to our work.
Michael Docherty returned to Pittsburgh (his hometown) last year on a contract basis to help Innovation Works launch a regional Corporate Innovation Program. The program is focused on helping large companies connect and collaborate with our area’s entrepreneurs and startups. Mike was able to apply his global experiences as a corporate executive, entrepreneur, venture investor and as a matchmaker for innovation ‘seekers’ and ‘solvers’. After recently transitioning the corporate innovation role over to a full-time Innovation Works team, he spoke with us about his experiences, his views on Pittsburgh’s innovation ecosystem and what’s next for him.
July 29, 2019 By Karen Woolstrum Pitt researchers are passionate about their cutting edge discoveries that can positively impact lives. The Pitt Innovates Spotlight illuminates Pitt researchers and how they are translating some of their lab discoveries to real-world applications. For Alexis Nolfi, her quest to deliver a better therapy for dry eye is personal one. After visiting her own eye doctor for a persistent dry eye problem, Alexis and her doctor realized that available treatments, most of which are eye drops, were falling short of treating dry eye patients' symptoms. “What’s the first thing your optometrist or ophthalmologist does before they administer eye drops? They hand you a tissue. That’s because a majority of the product is not remaining on the eye but rather is being blinked out of the eye. The little bit that remains is quickly dissipated,” she said.
On Tuesday, May 14, the Innovation Institute will host a panel on Human Performance Innovation as part of Pittsburgh Life Sciences Week.
By Nitin Pachisia, Founding Partner of Unshackled Ventures. Nitin Pachisia is an entrepreneur-turned-investor and recently featured in Forbes for his work with Unshackled Ventures, but prior to this he experienced the myths and misinformation that many immigrant entrepreneurs face when forming a startup. Tens of thousands of entrepreneurs in the U.S. first started their long journeys in other countries. I should know. I am one of them. There are many different kinds of entrepreneurs and we should honor all of them. But I wanted to use this post to correct several myths associated with immigrant entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs were selected by American institutions of higher learning or companies from a talent pool of billions of people; they truly represent some of the brightest minds in the entire world. But when they dream of starting a business in the US, a common misnomer I often hear is "I have been told that I cannot start my own company in the US while I am on a visa.” This is simply not true.