UAMS, BioVentures, Conductor Extend Sign-up to May 7 for Health Sciences Entrepreneurship Boot Camp
| April 27, 2017 | Arkansas college students interested in learning the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and forming new health science ventures at a residential boot camp at the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) in Conway have until May 7 to register.
Held from May 22-26, the camp is a joint initiative of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), BioVentures and The Conductor, a public-private partnership with UCA and Startup Junkie Consulting that provides high-impact programming, one-on-one consulting, commercialization support, talent development and collaboration.
The Conductor will be accepting up to 50 students for the Health Sciences Entrepreneurship Bootcamp. The residential camp is all-expenses-paid, and is funded through UAMS, BioVentures and the Conductor. Eligible students must be enrolled in or have graduated from a collegiate institution in Arkansas and preferably be in a health care, science or engineering field of study.
For more information about the Health Sciences Entrepreneurship Boot Camp, visit www.arconductor.org/conductor-calendar/bootcamp. To apply to participate, visit goo.gl.forms/jyicpVwd7RdT4rWJ3.
“This camp is the second iteration of a camp we ran last summer for graduate students and postdocs,” says Nancy Gray, Ph.D., director of BioVentures. “We had a tremendous response, and have adapted the camp to focus on undergraduate students interested in health sciences startup opportunities from around the state.”
The Health Sciences Entrepreneurship Boot Camp will guide students through an immersive, five-day training program in which they learn how to start and fund an entrepreneurial venture, meet with influential faculty, entrepreneurs and mentors and become exposed to entity filing, patents and legal issues in entrepreneurship. Students will form teams, create and refine new venture ideas and talk to potential customers. The week-long camp will conclude with a Demo Day, during which the public is invited to watch the teams present their new venture ideas. Demo Day will be held at UCA on May 26.
“We are very enthusiastic about powering this camp,” says Jeff Standridge, team leader of the Conductor. “One focus area of the Conductor is developing entrepreneurial talent within the state. This camp is bringing together the disciplines of innovation and entrepreneurship and combining them with the vast expertise our state has in health sciences. The next great medical innovation just might come out of this endeavor.”
Gray said the partnership of BioVentures, The Conductor and UAMS will create new opportunities for students around the state and enhance the statewide health sciences entrepreneurial network. All three partners are dedicated to creating a statewide infrastructure to support a growing biomedical research capacity in Arkansas.
BioVentures is a technology commercialization organization and startup incubator focused on promoting a biomedical technology industry for Arkansas and translating research into products that benefit human health. BioVentures links the healthcare research minds to global markets in order to advance Arkansas’ scientific and economic development.
UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a northwest Arkansas regional campus; a statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute, the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and the Translational Research Institute. It is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 2,870 students, 799 medical residents and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including about 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS and its regional campuses throughout the state, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or www.uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Instagram.