Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

​CCEI Summer Fellowship is UConn’s startup accelerator. Open to student, faculty, staff and alumni founders, this eight-week intensive entrepreneurial experience helps founders develop the skills needed to bring new products, services, and technologies to market.

​Join us for a virtual info session on Thursday, February 6, 2025 from 12-1pm.
Register here: https://lu.ma/a9u6x3ta

​If you cannot attend and would like a recording sent to you, please email alycia.chrosniak@uconn.edu.

​CCEI’s Summer Fellowship Accelerator takes place June 2, 2025 through July 31, 2025 with selected startups spending three days a week over eight weeks taking a deep dive into their business with the support of mentors, industry experts, and experienced entrepreneurs. These sessions help educate program participants on how to define their business, build their brand, and launch their venture, all while building a community with the other entrepreneurs participating in the program.

​The highly-competitive program only selects 10 startups to participate each year. As part of the program, these startups receive:

• ​$15,000 (non-equity, non-diluting) in funding for business development; up to $5,000 (per student) can be used to pay a member of the team (current UConn student or recent UConn graduate).

• ​Pro-bono legal, accounting, product development and branding services, and waived bank fees to assist in the proper establishment of your business and deciding how you want to structure your venture.

• ​One-on-one mentoring and guidance from industry experts and experienced entrepreneurs.

• ​Expert-led sessions covering all scaling fundamentals – go to market strategy, pitch compilation, sales and fundraising, to name a few.

• ​End-of-program demo day, where five teams advance to CCEI’s Wolff New Venture Competition to compete for $115,000+ in funding.

​CCEI Summer Fellowship alumni have gone on to raise over $316 million in follow-on funding, have been selected to participate in accelerators like Techstars and Mass Challenge, have been named Thiel Fellows, and more.

​Learn more about CCEI’s Summer Fellowship Accelerator: https://ccei.uconn.edu/programs/summer-accelerator/

​If you have questions, contactalycia.chrosniak@uconn.edu.

Learn how to make real-world impact with your innovations by turning them into products/services that create value in the market

​Take your novel ideas to the next level by understanding how your research discovery or innovation can create value for potential customers. Learn about the people who could benefit from the commercialization of your technology and deepen your connections to the market ecosystem. Develop your skills for innovation, entrepreneurship, and technology commercialization through experiential learning. For scientific researchers, innovators, and tech-entrepreneurs, I-Corps has become the standard for commercializing research discoveries and technological innovations across the country!

​Accelerate UConn is UConn’s NSF I-Corps Program which provides specialized training and stipends of up to $1,500 to teams interested in exploring the commercial viability of their ideas for products and businesses that are based on their own inventions, University intellectual property, or any STEM-related technology.

​In this one hour, virtual info session, you’ll hear from the Lead Instructor and Program Manager about the application process, teaching methodology and layout of the program. Learn if your technology is a good fit, and about potential commercialization pipelines. Each member of your team that is attending should RSVP individually.

​Who Should Attend:

• ​Faculty, postdoctoral researchers, graduate students and/or undergraduates who are developing a scientific or technical discovery at any institution in the Northeast.

• ​Student innovators with an idea for a STEM-based innovation wanting to take the idea beyond the classroom into the market

• ​Innovators from across the Northeast region looking to commercialize their technology

• ​Startups founders in the region with a technology-based innovation looking to explore its commercial potential

​Benefits of the I-Corps Program:

• ​TRAINING: Four sessions introduce the I-Corps Lean LaunchPad approach to evaluating technologies through customer-discovery research, focused on identifying the technology’s potential for development in a startup or other venture.

• ​FUNDING: Stipends of up to $1,500 are provided to each team and can be used to fund customer-discovery expenses such as travel to conferences & trade shows, patient advocacy groups, and LinkedIn Premium

• ​RESOURCES: Teams will receive mentorship from seasoned entrepreneurs and innovators. Teams may also access other programs offered by Hub-affiliated institutions.

• ​FOLLOW-ON OPPORTUNITIES: Upon completion, teams are eligible for the national NSF I-Corps Teams program which provides an intensive 7-week training course and a $50,000 grant.

Please register here to attend: https://lu.ma/w24fg7nf 

To learn more about the program or apply visit https://ccei.uconn.edu/programs/accelerate-uconn/ 

If you have any questions, please contact Alycia Chrosniak, alycia.chrosniak@uconn.edu 

Learn how to make real-world impact with your innovations by turning them into products/services that create value in the market

​Take your novel ideas to the next level by understanding how your research discovery or innovation can create value for potential customers. Learn about the people who could benefit from the commercialization of your technology and deepen your connections to the market ecosystem. Develop your skills for innovation, entrepreneurship, and technology commercialization through experiential learning. For scientific researchers, innovators, and tech-entrepreneurs, I-Corps has become the standard for commercializing research discoveries and technological innovations across the country!

​Accelerate UConn is UConn’s NSF I-Corps Program which provides specialized training and stipends of up to $1,500 to teams interested in exploring the commercial viability of their ideas for products and businesses that are based on their own inventions, University intellectual property, or any STEM-related technology.

​In this one hour, virtual info session, you’ll hear from the Lead Instructor and Program Manager about the application process, teaching methodology and layout of the program. Learn if your technology is a good fit, and about potential commercialization pipelines. Each member of your team that is attending should RSVP individually.

​Who Should Attend:

• ​Faculty, postdoctoral researchers, graduate students and/or undergraduates who are developing a scientific or technical discovery at any institution in the Northeast.

• ​Student innovators with an idea for a STEM-based innovation wanting to take the idea beyond the classroom into the market

• ​Innovators from across the Northeast region looking to commercialize their technology

• ​Startups founders in the region with a technology-based innovation looking to explore its commercial potential

​Benefits of the I-Corps Program:

• ​TRAINING: Four sessions introduce the I-Corps Lean LaunchPad approach to evaluating technologies through customer-discovery research, focused on identifying the technology’s potential for development in a startup or other venture.

• ​FUNDING: Stipends of up to $1,500 are provided to each team and can be used to fund customer-discovery expenses such as travel to conferences & trade shows, patient advocacy groups, and LinkedIn Premium

• ​RESOURCES: Teams will receive mentorship from seasoned entrepreneurs and innovators. Teams may also access other programs offered by Hub-affiliated institutions.

• ​FOLLOW-ON OPPORTUNITIES: Upon completion, teams are eligible for the national NSF I-Corps Teams program which provides an intensive 7-week training course and a $50,000 grant.

Please register here to attend: https://lu.ma/w24fg7nf 

To learn more about the program or apply visit https://ccei.uconn.edu/programs/accelerate-uconn/ 

If you have any questions, please contact Alycia Chrosniak, alycia.chrosniak@uconn.edu