As a member of the University of Colorado’s remarkable community, you’ve likely heard or read about CU’s innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem, our longstanding leadership in this area and the exciting impact of the work happening across our campuses. But you may wonder what this actually means, and more importantly, what it means for you. 

It means that our faculty, students, staff and alumni are researching and developing groundbreaking advances that impact our health, climate, education, technology and lifestyle – among other aspects of our lives. Advances like a breathalyzer that uses quantum technology to detect diseases or a patch that delivers targeted radiation to common skin cancers. Advances that employ artificial intelligence to detect wildfires early, send emergency alerts and monitor air quality. Even advances that yield high-quality anti-bacterial, anti-odor sports gear!

These and many, many more pioneering solutions from the CU community were demonstrated, displayed and discussed at the inaugural Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Impact Showcase on October 4 at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. The event featured an expo of more than 35 CU innovators and their groundbreaking work; in depth presentations from each of our campuses; a panel about how innovation is shaping Colorado’s future; and smaller breakout discussions about quantum, AI, community resilience, aging, health care, workforce development and higher education, among other topics.

School of Medicine Professor Michael Holers, MD, highlighted how he helps bridge academic research with real-world applications in his role as director of faculty ventures at CU Innovations. The collective is focused on uniting industry partners, entrepreneurs and investors with CU researchers to create biomedical technology that advances patient care. Through his work with CU Innovations – which generated $3.7 billion for the U.S. economy in 2023 – Holers helps other faculty and trainees take their discoveries to market. He has more than 20 years in technology transfer and commercialization, and has co-founded four companies, including Q32 Bio, which develops therapeutics for severe inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.

Colorado’s brewing industry is renowned, but many beer aficionados don’t know that the Centennial State is home to the nation’s largest dedicated gluten-free brewery – established by CU Denver alum Karen Hertz, who presented at the showcase. After successfully battling melanoma and thyroid cancer, Hertz adopted a gluten-free diet in her early 30s, only to find a lack of gluten-free beer options. Armed with her MBA from CU Denver and 15 years’ experience in the beer industry, Hertz founded Holidaily Brewing Company (where "every day is a holiday"), which has grown more than 1,500 percent since opening in 2016 and is distributed in multiple states.

A leading expert in trauma recovery, UCCS Professor Charles Benight established the Lyda Hill Institute for Human Resilience, where he serves as executive director. With over 30 years of experience, Benight's work was presented, including innovative web-based interventions for trauma recovery, and the GRIT Resilience Coach training, now used in 50 states and 36 countries. He’s published over 90 papers, his work has been cited over 11,000 times, and he’s secured over $15 million in philanthropic funding.

CU Boulder alum Camila Uzcategui, the CEO and co-founder of Vitro3D, demonstrated how her company is working to transform the manufacturing process. Using groundbreaking 3D printing technology, Vitro3D promises to cut fabrication time from hours to seconds and allow for the creation of complex shapes and dimensions unattainable through traditional methods. While this has tremendous implications for many industries, the company is currently focused on developing a manufacturing platform for on-demand production of high-precision parts for electronics and dentistry.

This is just a sampling of the exciting work featured at the showcase, a byproduct of the President’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative. We developed the initiative to leverage the amazing things happening on all of our campuses – in innovation and entrepreneurship, world-class research, immersive education, and private and public collaborations – and to generate substantial real-world impact. 

While this year’s showcase has come and gone, game-changing innovations are happening every day at the university. I invite you to learn more about the breadth of this work. See for yourself how the CU community is impacting the state, nation and world, changing life as we know it, and creating new possibilities for our future. If you haven’t already benefited from a CU-borne innovation, it’s only a matter of time before you do.