Innovation Ecosystem
The Emory community is harnessing technology to save lives, from infectious diseases to vaccine research to cutting-edge work on brain health. And it is working to improve the quality of life and level the playing field, looking for solutions to educational and economic disparity.
If Emory had to name its top achievements, the discovery of HIV antiretroviral drugs is no doubt on the list. In the early 1990s, Ray Schinazi, an infectious disease and antiviral expert, Dennis Liotta, a chemist, and Woo-Baeg Choi, who was a postdoctoral research associate in Liotta’s lab at the time, announced the discovery of an unusual molecule, FTC (emtricitabine, sold alone as Emtriva, with the “Em” standing for Emory) and a chemically similar compound, 3TC (lamivudine, sold alone as Epvir).
Four years ago, when a family of Syrian refugees resettled in Atlanta, among their few possessions was a cookie mold handed down from mother to daughter. As they sought to build a life in their new homeland, they connected with Start:ME, Emory’s 14-week micro-business accelerator program, led by Goizueta Business School. The program’s director, Brian Goebel, brought in Arabic translators for the family. With their successfully launched baking business, Sweet, Sweet Syria, they have had “the chance to fulfill their American dreams.”
Innovate @ Emory, Emory’s multifaceted innovation initiative, grows and interconnects Emory’s existing strengths in innovation, entrepreneurship and global health. Led by Liotta, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Chemistry and executive director of the Emory Institute for Drug Development, I@E cultivates a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship by using multifaceted approaches, with initiatives big and small, to nurture and expand the university’s“innovation ecosystem.”
By building on Emory’s unique strengths in entrepreneurship, innovation and global health, both vertically and horizontally, I@E empowers Emory faculty, staff and students to make significant social impact through the development of novel products, services and interventions.
At Emory, students can apply and extend their social, academic, and professional skills as they seek to solve life’s biggest challenges.
The Emory Startup Launch Accelerator guides early stage founders through a defined process that will help teams rapidly take their ideas to the next level. This 10-week program is open to the entire Emory community to help build and enhance the Emory student/faculty/staff/alumni entrepreneurial spirit by helping create successful startups.
This program will help teams validate demand, strengthen their understanding of the problem they are solving, develop metrics to support investments, build their resource networks and strengthen their startup team. Mentors from the Atlanta startup community and Goizueta Business School alumni are invited to attend the program and help the teams during portions of the program.
This startup accelerator program is funded by a grant from The Hatchery in collaboration with Goizueta Business School. Sessions are held at The Hatchery.
Emory Entrepreneurship & Venture Management (EEVM) was created by students to spur intellectual growth and curiosity by creating a successful support system and community for students who wish to pursue entrepreneurship at Emory. The vision of EEVM is to instill a spirit of entrepreneurship in Emory students and assist existing Emory entrepreneurs in taking their startup to the next level.
With 54 executive members, 45 yearly events, and 7 divisions, EEVM brings together an extremely diverse and talented pool of students, faculty, administration, entrepreneurs and investors. Since its inception in 2013, EEVM has grown at an incredible pace. EEVM brings new ideas to life and take on opportunities in the Atlanta community and beyond.
HackATL is one of the more prominent hackathons in the Southeast organized by EVMM and an opportunity to explore next-generation entrepreneurship amid the brightest minds in the Southeast and beyond.
Since 2013, HackATL has attracted thousands of students from top undergraduate programs across the United States to build a business in 48 hours and pitch it to judges, angel investors and venture capitalists. In so doing, they also have come together to solve the world’s most pressing problems.
The Atlanta Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST) Program is yet another exciting collaboration between Emory and Georgia Tech, specifically on the part of the graduate schools and postdoctoral offices on both campuses that serve the biological and biomedical disciplines. The Atlanta BEST Program is designed to reshape the preparation of the biomedical workforce in Georgia’s two top research institutions.