CATALYZE Commercialization Conference

*PLEASE NOTE THE ROOM CHANGE*

Talley Student Union 3285

Friday, February 28, 2025

8:30 a.m.-4:15 p.m.

Register by Friday, February 21st

CMI is proud to partner with IConS, ASSIST, the Bezos Center for Sustainable Protein, the College of Sciences, NC Biotechnology Center, and Helixomer on the 2025 CATALYZE Conference.

About Dr. Webb

After his Ph.D., Webb conducted a translational data science internship with Kingland Systems evaluating international data management programs against the DMM and DCAM while deploying real-time machine learning models on AWS for the SEC. He then started his own consulting firm working with biotech companies to implement machine learning for automating data analysis and was asked to lead a machine learning program at the USCIS with Attain LLC. Dr. Webb continued his machine learning work with Maximus for petabyte scale biometric identification models and then was recruited to start a machine learning program at Verana Health overseeing two machine learning teams analyzing petabyte scale clinical data.

Dr. Webb now serves as CEO/Founder of Vitality Robotics designing machine learning powered surgical robotics to automate preclinical research workflows. This year Vitality is scaling Labtools.AI, their SaaS platform to empower scientists to train machine learning models without code and seamlessly integrate with scientific ELNs/LIMS software.

Schedule

Please Note: All talks will take place in Talley 3285, except the lunch and networking session, which will be in Talley 3222

• 8:30-9:00 a.m. Check in — Talley 3285
• 9:00-9:15 a.m. Welcome to CATALYZE 2025
• 9:15-9:35 Brian Eller, Interim Assistant Vice Chancellor, NC State Office of Research Commercialization Technology Office of Technology Licensing: ”Commercialization of Early Stage Research Discoveries”
• 9:35-9:55 Ashley Davis, Program Manager, First Flight: ”Opportunities for start-ups at First Flight” 
• 9:55-10:10 Alper Bozkurt, PhD, Co-Director, ASSIST Center and IConS, “From Lab Bench to Life: Bringing Sensors Breakthroughs to the World”
• 10:10-10:55 Amy Parker, Assistant Director, Research Commercialization Programs: “Introduction to Bezos Initiative and Panel with Companies”
  • Ryan Bethencourt, Wild Earth
  • Trevor Ham, PhD, Chief Science Officer, Atlantic Fish Co.
  • Kelly Smith, Chief Operating Officer, Sable Fermentation, Inc.
• 10:55-11:30 Keynote Address: Joe Webb, PhD, CEO at Vitality Robotics: “An Entrepreneur’s Journey: Bootstrapping 101”
• 11:30 – 12:00 p.m. Networking & Career Fair: “Connecting Startups with Students and Students with Startups“ — Lounge outside of Talley 3222
• 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Lunch — Talley 3222 & Lounge
• 1:00-1:20 Zach Williams, New Ventures Program Manager, NC State Office of Research Commercialization: “Startup 101: How to form a university spinout company”

• 1:20-1:40 Lisa Chang, Director of Technology Entrepreneurship & Commercialization: “Making the Most of NC State Entrepreneurship Resources”
• 1:40-2:00 Louis Judge, Regional Innovation Network Director, NC Innovation
• 2:00-3:30: Student Pitch Competition 
• 3:30-3:45: CMI Associate Members Panel
• 3:45-4:15 CATALYZE Award Ceremony and Wrap-Up

New in 2025: Expanded Networking & Career Fair with Local NC State Biotechnology Startups!

Participating Companies:

• ASSIST
• First Flight Venture Center
• Gradient Medical
• Helixomer
• IConS
• MyoMech, Inc.
• NC Biotechnology Center
• NC Innovation
• NC State Office of Research Commercialization
• Persistence
• PhotoCide Protection
• SelSym Biotech
• Vitality Robotics/Labtools.AI
• And more!

Student Pitch Competition:

• Graduate students & postdoctoral researchers are eligible to compete.
• Undergraduate students may compete as long as they have at least one graduate student or postdoc on their team.
• The pitches are 7 minutes followed by 5 minutes of questions by judges.
• The pitches should speak to the product and the business model.
• No more than 5 slides should be used for the pitches.
• Teams should be at least two people.
• Winning teams will receive up to $2k to use toward the creation of their startups.
• The awards can be used at the discretion of the winning teams to further their business ideas in a broad sense.
• After 6 months of the award, we request a written report of 1.5 pages detailing how the funds were used

Team Registration Deadline is Friday, February 14th.

Pitch Competition Info Sessions:

Want to learn more? Join one of the info sessions below!

• Monday, February 10, 2025, 3:00 p.m. online via Zoom
• Monday, February 10, 2025, 4:00 p.m. online via Zoom

Info session attendance is not required to participate in the competition. Can’t make the Q&A? View the info session slides below. Or reach out to Megan Pike, pitch competition coordinator, (mkpike@ncsu.edu) directly with any questions.

The pitches will be judged based on the following criteria:

• Was the message clearly communicated?
• Did the presenters define a market? How well was the technical feasibility explained?
• Did the presenters explain how they will translate from prototype to final product/service? Did the presenter define a viable business model?
• Did the presentation address the potential for growth of the business?
• Were the presenters enthusiastic and compelling with their pitch?
• Were questions answered appropriately?
• Did the presenters display understanding of their topic?
• Will the product/service positively impact the wider community?

Past winning projects have included:

• Biosensys
• Next-Generation Biosensors
• HAPI:ER Solutions, Inc.
• Avex Motion
• Biobattery
• Automatic Video Recording for Athletes

For More Information

Contact Valerie Baker, CMI Executive Assistant for general questions at (compmedinst@ncsu.edu)

Contact Ashley Brown, CMI Co-Director, for questions regarding sponsorships at (aecarso2@ncsu.edu)

Contact Megan Pike for questions regarding the pitch competition and team formation at (mkpike@ncsu.edu)