UK Innovate will host its second annual Kentucky Innovator Challenge (KIC) on April 11, 2024, from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. ET, in Ballrooms 212 A&B within Gatton Student Center.
Developed to forge new relationships and lay the groundwork for innovative solutions addressing the problems of University of Kentucky business partners, KIC will feature industry and federal funding presenters, keynote speakers, panel discussions, breakout sessions, and networking opportunities, including a reception following the event.
This event brings together business leaders from Kentucky, and the surrounding region, to identify the most pressing challenges facing Kentuckians and to discuss collaborative solutions through research and innovation.
The event will have three unique tracks that attendees can choose to participate in. Geared toward those in medicine and science, there will be an Innovations Advancing a Healthier Kentucky track. The other tracks include Materials Enabling the Future of Kentucky and Creating a Circular Economy in Kentucky.
"We are thrilled to have a track focused on research, innovations, and partnerships for enabling a healthier Kentucky this year,” shared Chelsea Ex-Lubeskie, Innovate Connect manager for the College of Medicine. “These companies and funding agencies will touch on opportunities for collaboration in six of our Research Priority Areas that span our life sciences and health care campuses.”
Industry speakers include Gaylene Anderson, US director for strategic research relationships at Boehringer Ingelheim, Stephanie Fertig, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Small Business Program, Lisa Morsman, managing director of healthcare solutions at UPS Healthcare, and Danielle Harmon, system director of community development at Appalachian Regional Healthcare (ARH).
“Industry is eager to work with the University of Kentucky to tackle large challenges that are of mutual interest that will make a big impact in the lives of Kentuckians and beyond,” said Ex-Lubeskie.
The event will also feature a panel presentation on Achieving Health Equity in Kentucky. Panel members include Robert Bunn, founder and CEO of Ultrasound AI, Stephanie Davis, PhD, small business program lead for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Stacey Finster, founder and CEO of Healthyr, and our own Nancy Schoenberg, PhD, associate vice president for research, health disparities, and director of the Center for Health Equity Transformation (CHET).
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About UK Innovate
UK Innovate at the University of Kentucky is the innovation, entrepreneurship and economic enterprise for University of Kentucky Research. Through technology commercialization, corporate partnerships, social innovation, innovation training and economic development initiatives related to UK’s research innovations, talent and community, UK Innovate works to move ideas into the world faster, where they can make the greatest social and economic impact possible. Learn more at www.research.uky.edu/ukinnovate.
About UK Innovation Connect
UK Innovation Connect under UK Innovate at the University of Kentucky provides dedicated resources and services to support University of Kentucky research and innovation outcomes that impact corporate partners and promote economic development in our innovation ecosystem. Learn more at www.research.uky.edu/uk-innovate/uk-innovation-connect.