Take Your Invention from Lab to Market
GIST Innovates Ukraine is a ten-week pre-accelerator training program modeled after the Lean Startup methodology. Through an in-depth customer discovery process, early-stage entrepreneurs will identify and evaluate opportunities for their venture and make informed decisions on how best to move their idea forward. We aim to provide innovators with the training, mentoring, and resources they need to build their entrepreneurial skills and bring their ideas out of the lab and into the market.
Program Dates: 2 June - 4 Aug, 2021
Program Highlights
- Experience in-depth training and mentorship through interactive online training at GISTNetwork.org in Summer 2021. If public health conditions allow, teams may have the opportunity to participate in an in-person closing workshop in Kyiv.
- Spend a significant amount of time engaging with industry experts, talking to potential customers, and testing hypotheses.
- Share experiences with other entrepreneurial teams engaged in similar work.
About the instructors
Grant Warner
Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship
College of Engineering, Architecture and Computer Sciences, Howard University
Grant serves as the Managing Director of the HowU Innovate Lab which is a co-working and maker space on Howard University’s campus. Dr. Warner is the co-founder of ConnectYard, a social analytics platform that provides white-label solutions to leading educational technology providers. He is also a co-founder of XediaLabs, a DC-based incubation firm that provides training and technical consulting to local startups. He received a B.S. degree from Cornell University, an M.S. degree from Penn State University, and a Ph.D. from Columbia University all in Mechanical Engineering.
Rhonda Shrader
Executive Director
Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program, University of California Berkeley
Rhonda is Executive Director of the Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program as well as the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program for the Bay Area Node. She was an early team member for MIT-spinout Organogenesis, one of the first publicly-traded regenerative medicine companies. She has been a founder or team member for start-ups in biotech, behavioral health, retail, non-profit, and artificial intelligence. She served as a mentor for UCSF’s Idea to IPO course, is an active advisor for NASA spinoff BrainAid, and recently led the winning teams for both the Health Tech Forum Codeathon and the San Francisco MedHack 2.0 Hackathon. She earned a degree in neuropsychology and pre-medical studies from Harvard and an MBA in strategy and operations from Berkeley-Haas.
Max Green
Principal
Ratio Flux
Max is an engineer and the Principal of Ratio Flux, an innovation management consulting firm focused on advancing the successful translation of early-stage ideas, science, and technology by offering a variety of customized solutions designed to foster wealth creation. He has personally led development efforts for more than 500 scientific innovations, yielding over 100 commercial agreements and the formation of 11 technology startups. His background in science, engineering and business have allowed him to be uncommonly effective in opportunity analysis, developing product launch strategy, cultivating strategic partnerships, and building investor relations. Max holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering and an MS in Technology Commercialization, both from The University of Texas at Austin.
Do you need additional information about the program or the application? Review the GIST Innovates Ukraine Frequently Asked Questions!
GIST Innovates Ukraine is a national-level program; Ukrainian citizens nationwide are encouraged to apply.