Events

The BenDaniel Venture Challenge (BVC) is Big Red Venture’s Annual Pitch Competition. BRV will select five finalists to pitch their business ideas to a panel of investors during Entrepreneurship at Cornell Celebration on April 10. Winners will earn a cash prize totaling $25,000! Companies based in New York state or with a Cornell affiliation are eligible to apply. Big Red Ventures (BRV), Cornell’s early-stage venture capital fund, operated entirely by a team of MBA students, runs this competition each year, in partnership with Entrepreneurship at Cornell.

Application Deadline March 14th. Apply Here.

Do you have a project in need of funding? Are you interested in learning about engaging with industry partners?

James Bellush, Manager of Scientific Scouting, will be hosting weekly virtual office hours, every Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to help Weill Cornell investigators support their ongoing translational research projects through industry sponsored research collaborations and grants.

Please use the link here to schedule your private meeting with James. Questions? Email james.bellush@cornell.edu.

Biotech entrepreneurship sits at the intersection of science, innovation, and real-world impact. Join us for an engaging fireside chat with Sasank Vemulapati, co-founder of LoBio, to learn what it’s really like to build a company in this space.  

You’ll hear firsthand insights on launching a startup, navigating early challenges, and turning an idea into a growing venture. Sasank will share his experience in biotech entrepreneurship, including lessons learned from founding a startup and advice for aspiring entrepreneurs. 

Register here. 

Over 10 weeks, Rev’s Prototyping Hardware Accelerator offers four tracks – Classic, AgTech, ClimateTech and MedTech - to guide product teams to determine if their ideas are commercially desirable, technologically feasible and economically viable. Upon completion of the program, participants are positioned to recruit team members, bring on partners, initiate work with contract manufacturers and pitch to investors. Teams will receive a stipend of up to $2,000 to advance their prototype. 

Register for an upcoming information session to have your questions answered by program leadership: 

• Thursday, February 19, 2026 from 5 – 6 PM ET 
• Tuesday, March 10, 2026 from 6 – 7 PM ET 

Ready to bring your product idea to life? – Apply Now. The final application deadline is midnight (ET) on March 22, 2026. Questions about the program can be directed to rev@revithaca.com.   

You are invited to join an upcoming panel highlighting emerging innovations at the intersection of neurotechnology, rehabilitation, and data-driven surgery. Moderated by Philip Horner, PhD (Houston Methodist Research Institute / Weill Cornell Medicine), the discussion will explore how engineering, neuromodulation, and AI are converging to enable more precise and personalized treatments for neurological disorders.

The panelists will include:

Damiano Barone, MD, PhD,  Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at Houston Methodist:  Dr. Barone develops next-generation flexible bioelectronic interfaces, including circumferential implants for high-resolution neural recording and stimulation.

Dimitry Sayenko, MD, PhD, Paula and Joseph C. “Rusty” Walter III Chair in Neuromodulation at Houston Methodist:  Dr. Sayenko leads pioneering work in spinal neuromodulation combined with robotic exoskeletons to restore motor function following spinal cord injury and stroke.

Lisa Gfrerer, MD, PhD, Associate Professor in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Weill Cornell Medicine:  Dr. Gfrerer focuses on peripheral nerve reconstruction and has developed an AI-assisted migraine pain-mapping tool to improve surgical outcomes.

Together, these leaders will discuss how advances in neural interfaces, rehabilitation technologies, and AI-enabled clinical decision-making are shaping the future of neurologic care.

Please register here.

Weill Cornell Medicine is partnering with Cornell Tech again this year for the fourth annual edition of Health Tech Summit. The event will deliver the same dynamic programming, engaging discussions, and innovative, multidisciplinary audience cultivated over the past three years. Visionary leaders will share their expertise on the potential of AI in healthcare.

Dr. Robert A. Harrington, the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean, Weill Cornell Medicine, and Provost for Medical Affairs, Cornell University will deliver welcome remarks and moderate a fireside chat with Eric Horvitz, Chief Scientific Officer of Microsoft. Weill Cornell faculty members that are featured along with other luminaries include Dr. Robert Min, President and CEO of the Physician Organization and Chair of Radiology, Dr. Rahul Sharma, Chair of Emergency Medicine, and Dr. Fei Wang, Professor of Population Health Sciences.

Purchase your tickets here. 

Center for Technology Licensing (CTL) at Weill Cornell Medicine Office Hours are open to all who wish to gain more information about the advancement of their patent filings and to discuss their technology venture project with a one-on-one meeting with a Weill Cornell Business Development and Licensing Professional. The February 26th office hours will be hosted by Donna Rounds, Ph.D., Associate Director, Business Development and Licensing. 

Donna joined the startup world as one of the founders of Physiome Sciences, Inc., the first in-silico drug discovery platform using computational models of cells, tissues and organs. She later joined the British Technology Group (BTG Plc) as a technology scout, where she visited academic institutions across the East Coast searching for biotech projects in the early stages of development. Later, Donna joined Columbia Technology Ventures (CTV) and managed a portfolio of world-class scientists and Nobel laureates at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. She was later recruited to lead the technology development program at Hospital for Special Surgery with a focus on musculoskeletal innovations and medical devices in orthopedics and rheumatology. Donna was on the scientific advisory board of Tohi Ventures and co-founded Nirova BioSense, which is dedicated to the development of optical sensors for real-time detection of ovarian cancer biomarkers.

Register here for your 30-minute private session.

The BioInnovate Conference is a premier life science ecosystem-building event that convenes academic inventors, investors, industry leaders and entrepreneurs to foster meaningful engagement and accelerate the translation of biotech, medical device and digital health innovations. The event draws a strong mix of local and national investors, industry representatives, entrepreneurs and ecosystem partners who visit Weill Cornell Medicine’s campus for a half day of presentations, panels, meetings and networking. 

The afternoon features dedicated partnering sessions, where innovators connect with investors and industry representatives through pre-scheduled 1:1 meetings arranged using a dedicated online platform. The platform hosts entrepreneurship-focused content from prior years.  

This conference is modeled after the annual JPMorgan Healthcare Conference and provides an opportunity for innovators to showcase their product ideas in a risk-free setting. Follow-up discussions may continue after the partnering conference. 

Please join us for the information session by registering here. 

Are you a STEM researcher interested in making an impact with your technology innovation? The National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program can provide you with professional training, mentoring and up to $50,000 in funding for customer discovery. 

Hosted by the Interior Northeast I-Corps Hub (IN I-Corps), the virtual NSF I-Corps Information Session on Wednesday, February 25 (12:00 – 12:45 p.m. ET) is designed for busy graduate students, postdocs and faculty interested in learning more about I-Corps regional and national programming. NSF I-Corps instructors and alumni will be in attendance to share their experience and answer questions. 

The NSF created I-Corps (Innovation Corps) to bridge the gap between fundamental research discoveries in science and engineering and the commercialization of technologies, products, and processes with the potential to benefit society.  

Register here. 

Ready to secure non-dilutive funding to take your startup to the next level?  

Join Kirk Macolini, President of InteliSpark, LLC, for this virtual workshop providing insights into the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) application process. During the workshop, Macolini will discuss and answer questions regarding writing and submitting a successful SBIR/STTR proposal and identifying strategies for making your SBIR/STTR proposal more competitive. 

Upon registering, participants will receive access to the SBIR/STTR video series, a set of short videos containing valuable background information, which they are encouraged to view prior to the workshop. The pre-workshop video series covers:  

• An overview of the SBIR/STTR programs 
• Program eligibility requirements 
• Differences between SBIR and STTR agencies 
• Using SBIR/STTR to enhance your company's value 

The event is free and open to the public. Register to reserve your spot.