After nearly three years cultivating their business within the Pennovation Works ecosystem, Chris Franzwa, Anthony Merlino, Tony Samaritano, and Nils Thorjussen, founders of Verge Aero, are packing up their drones and heading south. Verge Aero is a drone automation company specializing in the automation of drones for new markets such as drone delivery, choreography, and developing enabling technologies. They develop and manufacture everything necessary to easily create and fly sophisticated drone shows.

Penn Senior Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli discusses the future evolution of this 455,000 sq. ft. research and manufacturing project, led by Longfellow Real Estate Developers, and its value for Penn and the region. View the full article on the Penn Today website. 

Ground-up life science development at Pennovation Works marks first Philadelphia asset for one of the nation’s leading life science investors

Press/Media Contacts

Casey Angel, Associate Director, Corporate Communications, Longfellow Real Estate Partners, (619) 400-7990, cangel@lfrep.com

Heidi Wunder Riegel, Communications Specialist, Penn Facilities & Real Estate Services, (215) 746-0123, hwunder@upenn.edu

On May 6-12 this year, the 12th annual Philly Tech Week (PTW) took place, highlighting technology and innovation happening throughout the Greater Philadelphia region. The week was filled with in-person and virtual events held throughout the city organized by various companies and led by Technical.ly, a news organization that serves a community of tech professionals.

On May 4^th, the Pennovation Center and JPOD @ Philadelphia welcomed 35 students and their mentors from the West Philadelphia school system for an introduction to a career in life sciences. The students, all 10th graders participating in Johnson & Johnson’s 3-year Bridge to Employment program, enjoyed lunch from Pitruco Pizza, and an introduction to what it’s like working in a lab from Frank Leu, PhD. The students later toured the site, met young founders and scientists, and rounded out their afternoon with a Pennovation-wide Ben & Jerry’s ice cream social.

This month’s Pennovation Works Meet the Innovator spotlight is Mike Siedlik, Ph.D., Senior Scientist at Infini Fluidics.

Before we get to know Mike, let’s get to know Infini Fluidics:

On Monday, May 2^nd the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia held a dynamic, in-person and virtual event, which included an update on the real estate developments impacting our region’s life sciences market. The life sciences industry in Greater Philadelphia continues to thrive and is poised for exponential growth as it has established itself as a global hub for research, talent, and capital, attracting companies in cell and gene therapy, gene editing, and connected health.

For the first time since the pandemic, members of the Pennovation Works community visited Austin, Texas for South by SouthWest (SXSW).  Jaime Sweet, Associate Director of Programming for Pennovation Works attended along with Michael Poisel, Executive Director of PCI Ventures and PCIV Admin Coordinator Raquel Giron.  Jaime shared that “[they] had a blast supporting Exyn and meeting other SXSW Innovation Award finalists.”  Exyn Technologies, a PCI Ventures portfolio company and Pennovation Center graduates, was

On Tuesday, February 22nd, Olivia McPherson, Program Manager of JPOD @ Philadelphia, discussed how the JPOD and Johnson & Johnson's JLABS program helps startups with life science commercialization.

Pennovation Works is home to an exciting mix of startups, research initiatives, and innovative companies. As the campus continues to grow, we are highlighting various members of the Pennovation Works community through the Meet the Innovators spotlight series. This month, we are spotlighting Steven Chen, CEO and Co-Founder at Treeswift.

Before we get to know Steven, let’s get to know Treeswift: