Event to showcase breadth and diversity of Yale entrepreneurial activity

Entrepreneurship Across Yale, a celebration of the diversity of new business ideas on campus, will be held April 17-18 at Evans Hall. Highlights will include the announcement of winners of top innovation prizes.
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Entrepreneurship Across Yale, a celebration of the diversity of new business ideas on campus, will be held April 17-18 at Evans Hall. Highlights will include the announcement of winners of top innovation prizes.

The awards include the $25,000 Sabin Prize, presented by the Center for Business and the Environment at Yale (CBEY); the $25,000 Thorne Prize, presented by InnovateHealth Yale; and roughly $20,000 in total prize money for the Yale Venture Challenge, presented by the Yale Entrepreneurial Society.

The event will kick off Thursday night, April 16 at the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute (YEI) with information on a new $10,000 Numenta Startup Prize being offered by Donna Dubinsky, founder and CEO of Numenta and a member of the Yale Corporation. The Yale School of Management is holding a “Tuna Tank” that allows teams not selected as finalists to make business pitches for audience votes.

“We want this event to be as inclusive as possible,” says Kyle Jensen, the Shanna and Eric Bass Director of Entrepreneurial Programs at SOM. “This is an opportunity for students, faculty, and anyone interested in entrepreneurship at any level to see the full range of innovative startups taking shape across Yale and to make connections.”

Details about the weekend and information on the finalists can be found online.

Four finalists will present for a chance to win the Sabin Prize, which supports sustainable business ideas.

“The four Sabin finalists represent diverse approaches to solving sustainability challenges,” says Stuart DeCew, program director at CBEY. “From agriculture, to home energy, to food products to fashion, these are all industries where innovative designs can have a major impact.”

The Thorne Prize offers $25,000 for the best student-led venture dedicated to social innovation in health.

“These teams exemplify the mission of the Thorne Prize — providing innovative solutions to public health challenges using the tools of innovation and entrepreneurship,” says Martin Klein, associate dean for development and external affairs at Yale School of Public Health and director of InnovateHealth Yale.

In addition to the selection of Sabin and Thorne Prize winners, the two-day Entrepreneurship Across Yale event will include leading speakers like Peter Boyd, senior adviser and climate lead for the B Team and founder of Time4Good, who is working with global business leaders to improve sustainability; Will Haughey, the founder and “chief blockhead” of the magnetic block company Tegu; Kate Emery, CEO of reSET, the Social Enterprise Trust, which is working to make Connecticut a social enterprise hub; and Donna Dubinsky, CEO and co-founder of the machine-learning startup Numenta, a pioneer in handheld computing.

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Media Contact

Bill Hathaway: william.hathaway@yale.edu, 203-432-1322