Many Promising Matches Made at the Venture & IP Conference

Invent Penn State’s Venture & IP Conference brought over 500 investors, inventors, and start-ups together on October 6 and 7. It was an opportunity for the best and brightest of Penn State’s students and researchers—as well as local residents—to seek investment, licensing, or collaboration to further their already impressive work.

One of the main events was the Tech Tournament, during which 14 groups had eight minutes each to convince the panel of judges that their start-up deserved the $75,000 prize. Find out which team won and learn more about the conference in this Centre Daily Times feature:

Startups sling pitches, impress investors at first Penn State Venture and IP Conference

Another essential part of the conference was the Inc. U Student Start-up Pitch which showcased the best of Penn State student inventions. You can read more about student start-ups that were part of the event in this Penn State News story:

Student entrepreneurs one part of Penn State’s new venture conference

Several panels and speeches from key investors, entrepreneurs, and inventors were also held throughout the two-day event. Ray Lane, a Managing Partner at GreatPoint Ventures and a strategic advisor for Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers—and former President and COO of Oracle, closed out the conference with a speech about taking the leap as an investor, which he says is really about believing in the technology. You can read more about Lane in this Penn State News feature:

Heard on Campus: Ray Lane, Invent Penn State Venture and IP Conference