Stories & Updates

Horn Entrepreneurship's EntreX Lab dual enrollment program equips students to thrive amidst rapid change by cultivating agile thinking and developing their creative problem-solving skillsets. 

On December 19, student teams from Saint John Vianney and ASPIRA Academy gathered on Zoom to participate in an EntreX NASA Innovation Sprint. Equipped with documents describing a handful of innovative technologies from NASA, several teams brainstormed potential applications for the tech to solve problems in their local communities and contexts. The event brought out lots of creative ideas for applications of the tech, and inspired some young entrepreneurs along the way.

“I bet you twenty bucks I can beat you in this game.” Playing video games and involving money in the equation is a situation which tends to occur regularly among gamers. Alex Pickett and Dan Goodman had a goal to create a platform where gamers can play for money. 

It’s a bright, blue, sunny day and you decide to take a trip to the ballpark with your friends. The game is tied and everybody is excited to see what happens next. All of a sudden your chest tightens up and you begin to wheeze. It feels impossible to get a breath and now your friends all begin to panic. You pull out your inhaler and head for the car. Just a moment ago your biggest worry was your favorite team winning, and now it’s hoping to make it out of the hospital before the day ends.

The summer founder teams at orientation on June 6, 2022, await a full 12 weeks ahead of them.

This summer six teams have been selected to participate in Horn Entrepreneurship's Summer Founders, a 12-week pre-accelerator program for student ventures.

The Summer Founders opportunity provides its participants with a combination of training sessions and resources, coaching, mentorship, and events to facilitate their venture's journey from idea to launch. At the end of their training in August, the teams will be prepared to present for demo day, where each team will pitch their ideas to members of the local business community.

In the US, there are currently thousands of incarcerated students attempting to gain an education, yet their environments lack the needed resources to effectively facilitate learning. Working feverishly to solve that issue is Sia Precision Education, a software development company that uses artificial intelligence to improve education for students in low-resource settings. Acting as their Chief Business Officer is Carlos Benito, a senior at the University of Delaware and an avid member of the Horn Entrepreneurship community.

This article is part of a series describing how UD Horn Entrepreneurship assists teams in moving their inventions and innovations into the marketplace, a process known as commercialization. Each team receives a customized blend of resources, including training, mentorship, and funding, through the Blue Hen Proof of Concept Program.  Mentorship and support is also provided by Horn Entrepreneurship partners, including the Office of Economic, Innovations and Partnerships and Delaware’s Small Business Development Center.

Lan Wang was a UD graduate student and postdoc, now Versogen’s Director of New Chemistry and Cofounder, who led the effort to scale the world’s leading polymer membrane technologies for converting water into green hydrogen.

The last six months flew by! But our community was anything but quiet. Check out all of the accomplishments - and give kudos to your friends. Smile knowing that you are part of a community making an impact on the world. 

The basis of entrepreneurialism is to make life easier for the community. By bearing the process of creating a startup, an entrepreneur finds solutions to an issue, which makes someone’s day a bit easier. Through the University of Delaware Horn Entrepreneurship, students can pursue new ideas while receiving world-class education and advice to help their ideas flourish. No idea is too big or small, too niche or broad. 

Like a connoisseur of fine art, Christina Pellicane both understands and enjoys the details, technique and principles of commercialization. She’s spent most of her career on just that - making an impact through innovation. Her work is reminiscent of a Jackson Pollock painting - drips and splashes dotting the canvas - it is purposeful and groundbreaking.

David Breyla and Noah Lux have been in the vinyl car wrapping industry for years. Working for University of Delaware alumni Greg Star and Mac Macleod at Carvertise since late high school, the pair gained unparalleled experience overseeing vinyl installations at the nation’s largest rideshare advertising company. They also spent time at several other vinyl wrapping businesses over the years, combining for over 12 years of hands-work. With a mass of experience behind them, Breyla and Lux saw a gap in the market where they could fill a need no one else could.