A collection of some of the nation's top venture capitalist firms, including many of their senior managing partners, came to Charlottesville last Thursday and Friday for the University's Venture Summit, a one-and-a-half day program organized by the Office of the Vice President for Research.
The program consisted of a variety of event intended to establish the University as a global destination for technology-based ventures, Vice President for Research Tom Skalak said. Inviting many "visionary" investment leaders to Grounds also created opportunities for students and faculty to move their ideas into the marketplace, he said.
The event began Thursday morning with speeches via video conference call from both former Gov. Mark Warner, who spoke about the importance of innovation in the United States, and Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Charlottesville, who discussed the local community's potential to become a leader in clean energy, Skalak said.
Later that day, three faculty members gave a series of presentations, discussing the challenges faced by venture capitalists and describing how those topics would be relevant during the next five to 10 years. Asst. Biomedical Engineering Prof. Jason Papin spoke about personalized medicine, while Asst. Computer Science Prof. Kim Hazelwood presented about computer security and virtualization, and Architecture School Dean Kim Tanzer spoke about design thinking.
The summit then hosted a panel of venture capitalists, who discussed big opportunities and their vision for the future, Skalak said.
"The panel said that while all of the great venture capitalist investments in biotechnology and microelectronics have been significant, the future is going to hold 10 times the potential for innovative growth in the areas of energy, water and mobile information technology," Skalak said. "The other main comment they made is that we should be very optimistic because the U.S. remains an extremely innovative place. Universities are the innovative engine right now. Students and faculty are highly likely to put ideas together in an innovative way, which gives us a global advantage."
The summit also included an interactive showcase in which five student teams and four start-up companies presented their ideas to the panel of venture capitalists.
"The idea of the showcase was to pitch these start-up companies to a panel of experienced venture capitalists and get feedback and advice," said Graduate Engineering student Will Mauldin, a co-founder of Rivanna Medical, who presented his start-up company to the panel. "It also gave us the ability to network with venture capitalists and others in the audience."
Hazelwood said the summit was an overall success for both the University and participants in the weekend's events.
"One of the goals of the Venture Summit was to make U.Va. the place to go to for information," she said. "It was a success in that respect."
Skalak agreed, noting that the event was a useful opportunity for students and faculty to network, seek research funding and giving students and look for advice from some of the nation's leading venture capitalists.
"This event is really unique and is making U.Va. a global destination for technology based ventures," Skalak said. "It is creating opportunities for students and faculty, growing the economy of Virginia, and improving our core sciences," he said.
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