Global Entrepreneurship Week to feature entrepreneurial challenges and opportunities in the age of pandemics

Ohio University’s Center for Entrepreneurship will celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week virtually by hosting two evenings of panel discussions at 4 p.m. on Wed., Nov. 18 and Thurs., Nov. 19 with the theme Careers and Entrepreneurship in the Sciences: Challenges and Opportunities in the Age of Global Pandemics.

Students, faculty and professionals will learn from scientists, industry executives and entrepreneurs providing insight into the biotechnology issues surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, this event will appeal to students who enjoy science but do not intend to go into health care provider professions, students who are engineers and/or are business-minded entrepreneurs and inventors in the industry.

“The event will inspire and educate attendees through the speakers’ stories,” said Paul Mass, Center for Entrepreneurship associate director. “Our main goal is that through the panel, we can prompt attendees to think more about opportunities in the science and technology fields that they might want to pursue in the future.”

The event will feature several prominent speakers in the two panels. The speakers for the first panel, Pandemic Preparedness and Response at 4 p.m. on Wed., Nov. 18, will include OHIO alumna Karen Gibson, senior vice president of digital health for Quidel; Robert Huebner, principal consultant of Latham BioPharm Group; and Calvin James, associate professor of biomedical sciences in the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine at OHIO. The panel will be moderated by John Lewis, president and CEO of BioOhio.  

“This Global Entrepreneurship Week, we want to illustrate how a crisis is giving rise to important and potentially rewarding opportunities to scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, investors and patients,” Mass said. “We are all living through this pandemic and experiencing the profound risks and consequences for our lives.”

The second panel, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Arising out of a Global Pandemic at 4 p.m. on Thurs., Nov. 19, will be moderated by OHIO alumna Laura Brege, senior advisor to BridgeBio Pharma. Panelists will be OHIO alumnus Rob Painter, COO at I2Pure Corp. and managing partner at Fermented Innovations; Douglas Spitz, president and CEO of I2Pure Corp.; and OHIO alumna Amanda Epp, CEO and founding team member of ScriptDrop. 

Global Entrepreneurship Week is a celebration of innovators and job creators who drive economic growth and expand human welfare with their startups. Since the launch of the initiative in 2008, the international event has expanded to over 165 countries garnering millions of participants every year.

This free event is hosted by Ohio University’s Center for Entrepreneurship, Corporate Engagement Office, College of Arts and Sciences Department of Biological Sciences and TechGROWTH Ohio. The Center for Entrepreneurship serves the entire Ohio University community. It operates as a partnership between the College of Business and the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs.

Visit the website for more information and to register for the events to obtain the Zoom links.