Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship celebrates first 20 Years

Zino Society CEO Cathi Hatch gives her elevator pitchHow can 17 speakers share their memories of the University of Washington Foster School of Business Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship without running too far into the next decade? Easy: make it an elevator pitch. The one-minute brief used by all good entrepreneurs made it possible for alumni and current students, faculty and leaders from the Seattle business community to reminisce. Here’s what some of them said in their 60 seconds at the podium.

“Innovation is not just for start-ups, but the life-blood for any company. If we were really doing the same thing we did when we opened in 1982 and using the same ingredients, our company would not be leading the competition or even keeping up with them. Judging the Business Plan Competition each year leaves me energized and more creative in my own business.”
Fran Bigelow, owner of Fran’s Chocolates and Foster alumna

“Expertise doesn’t reside entirely within the tech transfer office or the College of Engineering or the business school. For entrepreneurship to flourish, these organizations need to work together to weave entrepreneurship into the fabric of the university. That’s CIE’s role. CIE is at the center of it all.”
Ed Lazowska, Bill & Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science & Engineering, UW

“We failed horribly twice at the BPC. The third time, we knew what we were doing and took second place. We closed some financing shortly thereafter. Things are going really well. We couldn’t have done it without CIE.”
Brian Glaister, CEO of Cadence Biomedical, UW PhD candidate in mechanical engineering

Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship founder with current director“My interactions with CIE, which include taking entrepreneurship classes through the Technology Entrepreneurship Certificate as well as coordinating events with the Science & Engineering Business Association, have transformed my career path. I’ve discovered my entrepreneurial passion.”
Jeff Chamberlain, PhD student in bioengineering and past president of UW Science & Engineering Business Association

Photos (top to bottom): 1. Cathi Hatch, CEO of ZINO Society, 2. Professor Bud Saxberg, who launched the Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship in 1991, with Connie Bourassa-Shaw, CIE’s current director

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