CU Innovators News

How slashing university research grants impacts Colorado’s economy and national innovation—a CU Boulder administrator explains

Daniel Corbin Leonard — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 17:39:46 +0000

How slashing university research grants impacts Colorado’s economy and national innovation—a CU Boulder administrator explains Daniel Corbin … Tue, 07/08/2025 - 11:39

Supporting a Groundbreaking Innovation Pipeline

$8 billion in economic impact, a record-breaking 36 startups launched in a single year and $1.2 billion raised for CU startups and innovations: These are some of the results reported in the latest annual report from Venture Partners.

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From The Conversation

Over the past several months, universities have lost more than $11 billion in funding. Research into cancer, farming solutions and climate resiliency are just a few of the many projects nationally that have seen cuts. The Conversation asked Massimo Ruzzene, senior vice chancellor for research and innovation at CU Boulder, to explain how these cuts and freezes are impacting the university and Colorado’s local economy.

Read on The Conversation Website

The Conversation—Over the past several months, universities have lost more than $11 billion in funding. Research into cancer, farming solutions and climate resiliency are just a few of the many projects nationally that have seen cuts. The Conversation asked Massimo Ruzzene, senior vice chancellor for research and innovation at CU Boulder, to explain how these cuts and freezes are impacting the university and Colorado’s local economy.

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Activate welcomes CU Boulder-based fellows to Cohort 2025

Daniel Corbin Leonard — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 15:09:24 +0000

Activate welcomes CU Boulder-based fellows to Cohort 2025 Daniel Corbin … Mon, 07/07/2025 - 09:09

Venture Partners Startup Portfolio

Venture Partners at CU Boulder has helped faculty and researchers from the University of Colorado build over 220 new ventures based on technology and innovation from CU Boulder, UCCS and CU Denver.

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Activate announced the next cohort of 47 scientists and engineers who are joining the Activate Fellowship. The 39 companies of Cohort 2025 are developing technologies across 14 industries and represent 29 cities and nine states in the U.S., spanning Activate’s four hub communities—Berkeley, Boston, Houston and New York—as well as Activate Anywhere, the remote-based community that includes fellows across the U.S.

“Science entrepreneurship is the origin story of tomorrow’s industries,” said Cyrus Wadia, CEO of Activate. “The U.S. has long been a world center for science leadership and technological advancement. When it comes to solving the world’s biggest challenges, hard-tech innovation is how we unlock the best solutions. From infrastructure to energy to agriculture, these Activate Fellows are the bold thinkers who are building the next generation of science-focused companies to lead us into the future.”

Three CU Boulder-based innovators have joined Cohort 2025.

Elliot Strand is the co-founder and CEO of PAGE Technologies, a CU Boulder startup building an affordable digital platform with printed, multi-signal sensors and advanced analytics to help agricultural operations optimize water and fertilizer use. Strand earned his BS from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he worked on several climate resilience-focused projects, and completed his PhD in materials science and engineering at CU Boulder, earning MDPI’s journal, Sensors, Best PhD Thesis Award in 2023.

Payton Goodrich is the co-founder and CTO of PAGE Technologies. Goodrich has had a lifelong interest in environmental conservation and enjoys technical challenges related to green technology development. Goodrich completed his BS. at Iowa State University and a MS and PhD in mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley.

Nadia Jorgenson is the co-founder and CTO of CU Boulder startup OsmoPure Technologies (recently part of CU Boulder's Lab Venture Challenge and Ascent Deep Tech Accelerator), which develops pressure-driven distillation membranes for spaceflight, ultrapure water, and wastewater reuse applications. Raised in the Middle East and North Africa, Jorgenson’s passion for water reuse began early. She earned her PhD in environmental engineering at the CU Boulder, where she researched advanced treatment systems and contaminant control for potable reuse. She specializes in the development and integration of next-generation water treatment technologies.

Activate—Three CU Boulder-based innovators and their startups have joined Activate's Cohort 2025. Elliot Strand and Payton Goodrich, co-founders of PAGE Technologies, and Nadia Jorgenson, co-founder of OsmoPure Technologies.

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CU Boulder scientist receives $1.25 million award for cancer research

Daniel Corbin Leonard — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 19:54:56 +0000

CU Boulder scientist receives $1.25 million award for cancer research Daniel Corbin … Wed, 06/18/2025 - 13:54

CU Boulder College of Arts and Sciences—Edward Chuong, a University of Colorado Boulder assistant professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology and a BioFrontiers Institute scientist, has been awarded $1.25 million by the New York City-based Cancer Research Institute (CRI) to pursue his cancer immunotherapy research.

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Aoife Henry joins Stanford's Sustainability Accelerator

Daniel Corbin Leonard — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 15:41:32 +0000

Aoife Henry joins Stanford's Sustainability Accelerator Daniel Corbin … Fri, 06/13/2025 - 09:41

Venture Partners Startup Portfolio

Venture Partners at CU Boulder has helped faculty and researchers from the University of Colorado build over 220 new ventures based on technology and innovation from CU Boulder, UCCS and CU Denver.

Explore Our Startup Portfolio

The Sustainability Accelerator at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability will support three scholars exploring creative and commercially viable solutions to challenges in food, cooling systems and wind energy.

The Accelerator provides fellows with a salary, research and development funds, and mentorship from Stanford scholars in law, policy, business, social sciences, computer sciences and artificial intelligence. Launched in September 2024, the program supports early career scientists working to advance sustainability by translating their research into real-world impact.

Aoife Henry earned her doctorate at CU Boulder, with a specialization in electrical, computer and energy engineering. Her startup, ZentusAI—recently part of CU's Ascent Deep Tech Accelerator—is developing site-specific wind farm forecasting models for wind asset assessment and wake steering turbine control. At commercial scale, Henry’s innovations could allow wind farm operators to anticipate wind patterns and optimally direct their turbines to improve productivity and efficiency.

Stanford—Aoife Henry earned her doctorate at CU Boulder, with a specialization in electrical, computer and energy engineering. Her startup, ZentusAI—recently part of CU's Ascent Deep Tech Accelerator—is developing site-specific wind farm forecasting models for wind asset assessment and wake steering turbine control.

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Carson Bruns explores nanotech that turns plastic into fertilizer with RIO seed grant

Daniel Corbin Leonard — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 20:03:15 +0000

Carson Bruns explores nanotech that turns plastic into fertilizer with RIO seed grant Daniel Corbin … Wed, 06/11/2025 - 14:03

Read this full article at colorado.edu/atlas

Licensing Opportunities for Climate, Energy and Sustainability

Climate, energy and sustainability innovations are shaping the most urgent frontier of science and society—transforming how we power our world, manage resources and respond to environmental change. At the University of Colorado, groundbreaking research is driving not just new insights, but practical solutions to the global climate crisis.

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Plastics are a problem. They are made with petroleum, are rarely recycled, and turn into microplastics over time—an increasingly intractable global environmental and health concern.

Current bio-based alternatives have yet to see widespread adoption for a number of reasons. Carson Bruns, associate professor (ATLAS Institute, Mechanical Engineering), aims to change all that with a new line of research in his Emergent Nanotechnology Lab focused on turning agricultural materials into bio-based plastics that can be more easily recycled, composted or even used as fertilizer.

Bruns was recently awarded a 2025 Research & Innovation Seed Grant from CU Boulder’s Research and Innovation Office for this work.

We discussed the thinking behind this research and possible applications (interview lightly edited for clarity):

What are the challenges with bio-based plastics?

The biggest challenge that everybody is dealing with in sustainable plastics right now is that the current options for bio-based and compostable plastics are not actually very good. They don't compete with the oil-based plastics in terms of how tough and flexible they are, so people don't like to use them as much because they crack and they're brittle.

And in reality, you cannot throw such plastics onto your backyard compost pile. They need special conditions to properly break down. You need a composting facility that heats the compost up to 60°C and it has all these fans and equipment to circulate it, and even then, it still doesn't work that well. [Note: This is one of the reasons why A1 Organics, Boulder, Colorado’s main composting partner, stopped accepting these biodegradable plastics.]

The ATLAS Institute—Plastics are an increasingly intractable global environmental and health concern, and bio-based alternatives have yet to see widespread adoption. Carson Bruns aims to change all that with a new line of research focused on turning agricultural materials into bio-based plastics that can be more easily recycled, composted or even used as fertilizer.

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Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade announces grants to CU Boulder and CU Denver startups and researchers

Daniel Corbin Leonard — Thu, 29 May 2025 19:02:59 +0000

Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade announces grants to CU Boulder and CU Denver startups and researchers Daniel Corbin … Thu, 05/29/2025 - 13:02

This article was originally published by the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT).

Interested in securing non-dilutive funding to translate your invention into real-world impact?

The Center for Translational Research (CTR) is a campus-wide resource for both existing and aspiring university-originated startups seeking non-dilutive funding to translate their university inventions into a startup company. It provides support to university faculty, researchers and staff as well as non-university employees of startups utilizing university technology.

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The Global Business Development division of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) announced that 22 Colorado companies and 13 researchers have been awarded Proof of Concept and Early-Stage Capital and Retention grants through OEDIT’s Advanced Industries Accelerator Program, including seven CU Denver and CU Boulder ventures.

These grants help promote the growth and sustainability of advanced industries in Colorado by driving innovation, commercialization and public-private partnerships that move this vital aspect of Colorado’s economy forward in communities across the state.

“These pioneering companies and researchers are not only advancing technology, they are creating jobs, attracting investment, and positioning Colorado at the forefront of global competitiveness,” said Michelle Hadwiger, Global Business Development Director. “From advanced materials and aerospace to quantum computing and sustainable manufacturing, this cohort showcases the bold ideas that are shaping Colorado’s future economy.”

The Proof of Concept grant is intended to help Colorado research institutions speed up applied research in the advanced industries as well as commercialize products and services in partnership with the private sector. The Early-Stage Capital and Retention grant supports businesses commercializing innovative and disruptive technologies in the advanced industries that will be created or manufactured in Colorado.

The Advanced Industries Accelerator Program received 119 applications this grant cycle, which were reviewed in a multi-stage process by committees of business, technical and financial experts in the seven advanced industries.

The next application cycle for Proof-of-Concept and Early Stage Capital and Retention Grants will open on July 1, 2025 and applications will be due August 28, 2025. Learn more here

Proof-of-Concept Grants

Sanghamitra Neogi (CU Boulder Ann and H.J. Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences) - Boulder, CO $150,000: Developing an atomic-scale thermal modeling software tool for nanoscale semiconductor devices.
Farnoush Banaei-Kashani (CU Denver College of Engineering, Design and Computing) - Denver, CO $150,000: Developing an artificial intelligence-based software tool for optimized, preventative and cost-efficient bridge and culvert maintenance planning.

Early-Stage Capital and Retention Grants

Icarus Quantum Inc. - Boulder, CO $250,000: Icarus Quantum has developed a groundbreaking photonic interconnect technology that will enable scalable and efficient connectivity between quantum processors.
Kioga Inc. - Erie, CO $250,000: Kioga is developing novel postbiotic ingredients that reduce chronic, low-grade inflammation of the brain and body.
PrecisionTerra Inc. - Superior, CO $100,000: PrecisionTerra has developed a software-based navigation signal processor that improves positioning accuracy in areas where satellite signals are typically weak or disrupted.
Pricing Service Inc. - Boulder, CO $250,000: Pricing Service has developed an artificial intelligence powered hotel pricing software that helps hotels optimize room rates.
SteriO3, LLC - Littleton, CO $250,000: SteriO3 has developed a portable, low-temperature sterilization system for surgical instruments.

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