UNHInnovation (UNHI) hosted the ninth annual Innovators’ Dinner on October 10th to celebrate and encourage the commercialization of innovative ideas generated through UNH research. The dinner was held in the Huddleston Ballroom where faculty, staff, students, and industry partners gathered to recognize the UNH community for its hard work in FY19.
The evening began with a cocktail hour, and guests enjoyed passed hors d'oeuvres, a selection of craft beer and live music from a jazz band featuring several UNH students. After the cocktail hour, guests took their seats and were served a delicious three course plated dinner crafted by UNH catering. The dinner tables and the room at large were decorated with pumpkins that were developed by Brent Loy, plant biologist at the NH Agricultural Experiment Station. The pumpkins were grown at the Woodman Horticultural Research Farm and generously donated for the event.
During the dinner presentation, Marc Sedam, managing director of UNHI and associate vice provost for innovation and new ventures, outlined UNH’s successful commercialization activity and UNHI’s notable achievements throughout the past fiscal year. The 2019 innovators that were celebrated included first-time disclosers of an innovation, innovators of licensed products, registered trademarks, and issued patents. In Sedam’s message, he reminded the audience that while it is important to recognize the individual contributions of each UNH innovator, their work is a piece of the larger picture. The outputs of the university’s research portfolio have a positive social and economic impact on the world.
The evening’s presentations concluded with the naming of Jennifer (Jenn) Andrews and Allison (Alley) Leach, Ph.D. as Innovators of the Year for their role in developing and commercializing SIMAP (Sustainability Indicator Management and Analysis Platform), a comprehensive, valuable online tool that colleges and universities can use to measure, calculate, and report carbon and nitrogen footprints. There are currently over 500 institutions that are using SIMAP to calculate, track, and reduce their negative impact on the environment.
The Annual Innovators’ Dinner is always a great opportunity for UNHI to showcase and celebrate the creative outputs of the university and to look ahead to the goals and objectives of the coming year and beyond. UNHI is already planning for next year’s dinner and we look forward to celebrating the innovations and accomplishments of FY20.
Are you a UNH innovator with a big idea? Check out our website to learn more about innovation disclosure and how UNHI can help you reach your commercialization goals.
