EINPresswire/ -- The University of Rhode Island marked a milestone in its innovation journey with the launch of its first-ever Tech Showcase on September 23rd, bringing together researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, and industry partners for startup pitches, exhibitions, and cross-sector dialogue.

Held at URI’s Fascitelli Center for Advanced Engineering, the event spotlighted a growing ecosystem of startups and showcased URI’s commitment to translating research into real-world impact. Over 120 attendees gathered to hear from university leaders and keynote speaker Jon Soderstrom, a national authority on tech transfer, who emphasized the role of leadership and collaboration in building innovation pipelines.

“Building entrepreneurial and startup ecosystems is a multi-year journey for academic institutions and URI is at the beginning of a journey that will transition innovative, cutting-edge technologies into commercial enterprises. I was pleased to see the momentum from not only the founders, but also the growing ecosystem around them.” said Jon Soderstrom, who formerly led Technology Commercialization and Faculty Innovation at Yale University.

The evening featured ten dynamic startup teams - each rooted in URI research or alumni leadership - collectively seeking to raise over $100 million from investors. The lineup included ventures such as SWPT, Nereids, Kinesia Health, Juice Robotics, Audiance, pHLIP-ICG, eFlion Power Inc., and MindImmune Therapeutics, Inc.

pHLIP Technology’s founder and CEO, Yana Reshenyak, highlighted the value of the event:

“As pHLIP Technology continues to gain momentum in the market, the URI Tech Showcase allowed us to get in front of investors and start the conversations needed as we go out to raise capital for pHLIP Inc.’s subsidiary company, CleanMargin, Inc. We’re preparing for pivotal clinical trials and approvals in breast cancer. I appreciate the support of the URI Research Foundation and the ecosystem that showed up.”

“In my 43+ years at URI, I don’t think I’ve come across an event like this - focused on startups and the translation of technology and science into the real world,” said Professor Arijit Bose, co-founder and chief scientific advisor of Audiance. His reflection underscored the Showcase’s role in demonstrating URI’s growing capacity to launch real-world ventures.

These ventures are part of a broader innovation and entrepreneurship movement led by the URI Research Foundation (URIRF) supported by its RISE-UP initiative, a tri-state collaboration with ocean-focused states Alaska and Hawai‘i that builds dual-use solutions and business ventures for resilient, innovation-driven maritime economies. In Rhode Island, RISE-UP includes a focus on coastal resilience, advanced manufacturing, and the ocean “blue” economy - all sectors highlighted at the Showcase. The event also launched RI Startup Week, reinforcing URI’s role as a statewide hub for research commercialization.

"This event is just the beginning of an exciting 10-year ‘innovation journey” for us, with the goal of launching URI's rich intellectual property and tremendous “know-how” out into the world by commercializing it, starting with this batch of startups." said Pete Rumsey, Chief Business Development Officer, URI Research Foundation. "Our big stretch goal is to help at least two startups secure funding annually, and increase as we unearth talent and IP at URI. Thanks to our growing URI innovation ecosystem and our partnership with RIHub, we have a proven cross-disciplinary team in place to execute and bring this vision to life at URI!"

“As long-time investors in and supporters of the URI ecosystem, we continue to be impressed with the research and entrepreneurial energy on campus. By working with the URI Research Foundation, we're aiming to catapult some of these founders into commercialization and bring their vision to life.” said Thorne Sparksman of Slater Technology Fund, one of the event sponsors along with Rogue Venture Partners.

This inaugural event is part of a growing strategy to position URI as a leader in research-driven innovation, empowering faculty, students, alumni and our affiliated community not only to discover but also to innovate and deliver ventures that impact the state and world.

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