Students with innovative ideas and a knack for entrepreneurship may want to clear some calendar space this week.
Innovation Week 2009, set to take place this Monday through Friday, consists of six workshops sponsored by the Weiss Tech House aimed at student inventors, engineers and entrepreneurs.
The events feature a number of talks by Penn graduates and real-world business leaders, as well as a team-based design challenge with prizes such as iPods and gift cards.
Part of Innovation Week’s focus, according to Management and Technology junior and Weiss Tech House PennVention committee chairman Abhiraj Modi, is to introduce students to what the facility has to offer.
“There’s tons of resources for students with ideas,” he said. “The Tech House is a great incubator for all kinds of inventions.”
Weiss Tech House, located on the second floor of Levine Hall, is a student-run hub of technological innovation that provides support and mentoring to students developing creative technologies.
“These students’ ideas are really ahead of their time,” said Anne Stamer, director of the Weiss Tech House. “They’re a real source of inspiration.”
Innovation Week kicks off today with the ReDesign Challenge, taking place in the lobby of Levine Hall.
The challenge consists of two rounds: building a balloon-propelled car out of spare parts and then a surprise round, using parts from the first portion of the competition.
Winners of the ReDesign Challenge will be awarded restaurant certificates and gift cards, with iPod shuffles going to members of the most innovative team.
Tomorrow features a discussion about entrepreneurship careers with 2007 M&T; graduate Alex Mittal. Mittal is the founder of Innova Materials and Penn Engineers Without Borders, and developed antimicrobial materials used to purify drinking water in third-world countries.
A catered lunch will be served Wednesday at Weiss Tech House and will include a talk by David Hsu, associate faculty director of the Weiss Tech House, on generating venture ideas.
Later Wednesday, Lynn Hochberg, director of product development at Wawa, will speak about product development cycles and how new Wawa products progress from the drawing board to the store shelf.
Thursday features a lunch discussion with Peter Bressler of Bresslergroup on the importance of design in developing and commercializing innovative products.
Finally, Innovation Week will conclude Friday with a Technical Communication Program workshop and lunch at Weiss Tech House.
TCP fellows will critique students’ oral and written presentations to help them communicate highly technical ideas to investors or consumers without a science background.
More information about Innovation Week 2009 can be found at the event’s web site, penniweek.com.
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