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We are excited to announce the 2025 Pennovation Accelerator!
The Pennovation Accelerator invites a cohort of local startups to engage in a six-week program to develop their business strategy and cultivate their network. Cohort companies will participate in weekly educational sessions presented by subject matter experts. Each company is paired with an experienced mentor to advise them on their journey. In addition, curated networking opportunities help the companies make connections into the larger Philadelphia entrepreneurial community.
2024 was a landmark year for Pennovation Works. Our innovation ecosystem proudly supported 141 companies and nearly 200 startup founders from across the region, providing state-of-the-art facilities, targeted programming and engaging community development events. Pennovation’s dedicated team and industry mentors continued to cultivate the right environment for entrepreneurs to nurture and develop their startups within the community. As a result, Pennovation Works and its members celebrated a variety of accomplishments within the past year.
January was filled with events to help founders protect their Intellectual Property.
We hosted a lunch and learn with Nate Hecker and Jarid Arnold from Big Idea!. They discussed how to find the right type of IP strategy that aligns with your business goals, how protecting your ideas paves the way for scaling. what savvy investors look for in your IP portfolio, harnessing artificial intelligence to strengthen your strategy, and much more.
PCI Ventures offers office hours to address business questions on topics such as company formation, legal agreements, benefits, and insurance. Everyone is encouraged to take advantage of these office hours, so please sign up!
Here is our schedule for the month of February:
It's almost tax time and we're bringing Tax Tip Tuesdays back during the month of February! Find out if you qualify for the Keystone Innovation Zone (KIZ) Tax Credit Program, strategize year-end tax planning, and learn about tax law updates that could affect your business.
On Tuesday, February 11th from 12 - 1pm, we're hosting a lunch and learn at the Pennovation Center and will be joined by:
Pennovation Works hosted their annual New Year Celebration and Community Luncheon for members and tenants on January 22, 2025.
Managing Director Denita Henderson shared essential community updates and highlighted 2024 achievements. A few of these achievements included the new, dedicated bus service that operates on a continuous loop with six stops around campus, the Penno Provisions food service offered to the complex, various sustainability efforts, and the YES! (Youth, Entrepreneurship, and STEM) Initiative.
On January 17th Pennovation Works hosted Unshackled Ventures for a Fireside Chat discussing how immigrants can start and build a business while on a visa.
Katie Martin, Project Director at The Pew Charitable Trust, moderated a discussion between Unshackled Ventures founding partner Nitin Pachisia and Tom Zhang, founder of Daxo Industries.
Topics ranged from when to start speaking to a VC, what kind of capital to seek out, problems that immigrants face when starting a business, and what are the challenges faced when starting a business on a visa.
The MindCORE Neuroimaging Facility at Pennovation Works was built from a need for a facility dedicated for research and educating the next generation of scientists.
The 3,200-square-foot space is the first site in the United States to use the FDA-approved version of the Siemens MAGNETOM Cima.X 3 Tesla MRI scanner. Recently, in partnership with The Changing Brain Lab, data collection has begun with a 200-child study researching how much the brain can change in response to early childhood experiences.