New Venture Fellow Program Allows Companies to Explore Business Opportunities at Cornell Tech

Cornell Tech’s Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute will now offer companies worldwide an opportunity to send talented employees to an intensive one-year program to work on new business ventures that explore commercial uses for emerging technologies.

The new Cornell Tech Venture Fellows Program at the Jacobs Institute allows individuals to immerse themselves with a cohort of academically-minded entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs from diverse global businesses at Cornell University’s state-of-the-art tech campus in the heart of New York City.

The program is powered by Cornell Tech’s successful Runway Startups Program in the Jacobs Institute, which has launched more than 100 startups since 2014. Today those startups are valued at more than $660 million. They include businesses started by postdoctoral fellows as well as master’s degree candidates who pursue ventures through Cornell Tech’s Studio program.

Now, in addition to the existing startup opportunities on its campus, Cornell Tech will offer corporate leaders the chance to identify talented employees with similar potential for this new Venture Fellows Program.

“Supporting new tech ventures is core to Cornell Tech’s mission and we are thrilled to offer companies this unique opportunity on our campus, which is custom-built for cutting-edge entrepreneurial explorations,” says Greg Morrisett, Jack and Rilla Neafsey Dean and Vice Provost of Cornell Tech. “We look forward to seeing what new ventures emerge from these corporate partnerships.”

The Cornell Tech Venture Fellows Program promises to transform companies’ most talented scientists and technologists into business leaders through this intensive training and education program that allows them to acquire valuable commercialization and leadership skills designed to boost their company’s R&D priorities. The first cohort of up to 5 fellows will begin in fall of 2024.

“As a former corporate and academic researcher and co-founder of multiple startups, I have experienced firsthand the challenges of translating raw technology discovery into commercial products and ventures,” says Israel Cidon, Director of the Jacobs Cornell-Technion Institute. “This new program helps corporate leaders  bridge this gap by unlocking potential within their workforce and empowering them to take ideas to market.”

“Corporations possess amazing technical and scientific talent that is underutilized,” adds Fernando Gómez-Boquero, Director of Runway and Spinouts at Cornell Tech. “Our program will train and mentor this corporate talent so that they become leaders of the next generations of products and services, creating billions in value for their corporations and even more value for customers and the world. We have already trained hundreds of scientists, built over 100 companies, and generated billions in enterprise value. We are now ready to open up this valuable program to more partners in New York City and around the world.”

The program is open to employees from any industry interested in emerging business models utilizing deep technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other technologies that meet the program’s deep tech criteria.

Find more information on the program here.