News & Events

The first annual Farley Entrepreneurship Summit was held last Thursday, May 21, 2009 at the Norris University Student Center. Dean Julio M. Ottino and James Farley welcomed attendees at 1:00 to begin the afternoon. Throughout the day, more than 130 participants attended panel discussions with many distinguished guest speakers, a keynote speech from Sona Wang and the final round of the Northwestern University Venture Challenge (NUVC).

At the end of the day, the winners of NUVC were announced. NeuRDS, Inc. and Onyx instruments tied for first place and both received a $8500 prize. Osseo Magnetic Link won third place and $3000. A $1500 prize was also given to both the best undergraduate pitch, Knowledge Bay and the best social enterprise idea, Frontline SMS. To view photos of NUVC, click here.

The Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation invites alumni, faculty, students and the public to its first annual Entrepreneurship Summit at 1:00 p.m. on May 21, 2009 at Northwestern University Center. For more information, click here.

NUvention: Medical Innovation 2009, came to a close today on Northwestern's Chicago Campus. The course consisted of eight interdisciplinary teams with members from the McCormick School of Engingeering, Feinberg School of Medicine, Kellogg School of Management and Northwestern School of Law. The teams worked together during the Fall and Winter quarters to create a product in one of the following specialties: Cardiology, Neurosurgery, Urology, Orthopedics, Radiology and General Surgery. The groups participated in a prototype fair and presented their business plan to The NUvention Advisory Board, made up of key industry leaders including: Baxter, Boston Scientific Corporation, Covidien, Edwards Lifesciences, Greatbatch, Medtronic, and Moog.

FCEI is sponsoring a first annual Farley Center Entrepreneurship Summit for alumni, students, faculty and guests. The topic is Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Design: A Partnership.

Join faculty, alumni and current students for a series of panel discussions that promise some new insights on the intersections of these three areas. The event will lead into the final round of the Northwestern University Venture Challenge, the only NU-wide student business idea competition.

Norris University Center
Northwestern Room
1999 Campus Drive
Evanston, IL 60208

The agenda for the afternoon is as follows:

1:00 -1:20 p.m.     Welcome and Opening Remarks: Dean Julio Ottino and James Farley (Northwestern Room)

1:30 - 2:30 p.m.     Financing Ventures in a Recession (Northwestern Room)

                               Moderator: Professor Michael Marasco

                               Panelists:

                               -David Sachs, ARES Management, www.aresmanagement.com

                               -Warren Holtsberg, MVC Capital, www.mvccapital.com (NASDAQ: MVC)

                               -Bob Shaw, Angel Investor

                               Being an Entrepreneur in a Recession (Big Ten Room)

                               Moderator: Professor Walter Herbst

                               Panelists:

                               -Derek Moeller, Context Media, www.contextmediainc.com

                               -Stefan Birrer, Dosensio, www.dosensio.com

                               -Charles Kuehmann, Questek, www.questek.com

2:30 - 2:45 p.m.     Break

2:45 - 4:30 p.m.     NU Venture Challenge 2009 (Northwestern Room)

4:30 - 5:00 p.m.     Reception (Lake Room)

5:00 - 5:30 p.m.     Keynote Speaker

                              -Sona Wang, Ceres Venture Fund, www.ceresventurefund.com

5:30 - 6:00 p.m.     NU Venture Challenge Award Presentation

Participants must register in advance. To register, please click here.

InNUvation's NU Venture Challenge is Northwestern University's only university-wide entrepreneurship competition. The student-run competition is a platform for entrepreneurial students to experience first-hand the process of cultivating a business idea from scratch. Participants will have access to world-class faculty, veteran entrepreneurs, and early-stage investors. In addition, students can form teams by drawing on the diverse backgrounds, interests, and talents of individuals throughout the university. For more information, visit the NU Venture Challenge website.

The Venture Challenge finals consists of a 10 minute presentation and a 5 minute Q&A from the 6 finalist teams. It will follow the Farley Entrepreneurship Summit.

Preliminary Round 10am-12pm

Teams are given 3 minutes to pitch for a panel of judges. There will be rooms with teams from all universities competing at all times.

Networking Lunch 12-1:30pm

Lunch is served. Sponsors are introduced. Businesses with info booths can use this time to recruit. Students will use this time to network.

Final Round 1:30-4:30pm

A keynote speaker will kick off the event. Eight teams will be competing in front of a panel of four judges: an experienced entrepreneur, an entrepreneurship professor, a venture capitalist, and last year's Entrepreneur Idol winner. Each team will be allowed 3 minute presentations. Winner and Audience Favorite Awards will be announced promptly afterwards.