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Eleven teams of University of Colorado faculty, researchers and graduate student innovators competed for a combined $750,000 in startup funding grants in this year’s Lab Venture Challenge (LVC). Judges from Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØBoulder’s entrepreneurial network heard Shark-Tank-style pitches across two nights, one for innovations in biosciences and another for physical sciences and engineering.

From agriculture to aerospace, NSF’s I-Corps is a launchpad at the Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØ, helping innovators in and out of the University of Colorado bring research and inventions to the people who need them most. By equipping scientists and inventors with entrepreneurial tools, the program transforms great ideas into startups that tackle real-world problems.

Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØBoulder Environmental Engineering Program—Mark Hernandez is serving as a commissioner of the newly launched Global Commission on Healthy Indoor Air to elevate indoor air as a critical public health priority and drive coordinated global action and solutions.

Eleven teams of University of Colorado entrepreneurs, faculty researchers and graduate student innovators will compete for a combined $750,000 in startup funding grants in this year’sÌýLab Venture Challenge (LVC) Showcases at the Dairy Arts Center. Judges from Venture Partners at Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØBoulder’s entrepreneurial network will hear Shark Tank-style pitches across two nights, one for innovations in biosciences and another for physical sciences and engineering.

Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES)—CIRES and NOAA scientists have developed the Hourly Wildfire Potential Index (HWP)—an hourly updated assessment of wildfire risk across every nine square kilometers of land. The tool enhances existing weather prediction models by providing more accurate, real-time forecasts of wildfire activity and associated smoke emissions.

The New York Times—Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØBoulder entomologist Sammy Ramsey is leading international efforts to combat the Tropilaelaps mite, a newly identified parasite threatening honeybee populations worldwide. His research highlights the urgent need for global biosecurity measures to protect pollinators essential to food systems and ecosystems alike.

The Conversation—Over the past several months, universities have lost more than $11 billion in funding. Research into cancer, farming solutions and climate resiliency are just a few of the many projects nationally that have seen cuts. The Conversation asked Massimo Ruzzene, senior vice chancellor for research and innovation at Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØBoulder, to explain how these cuts and freezes are impacting the university and Colorado’s local economy.

Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØBoulder College of Engineering and Applied Science—Researchers at the Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØ have created a new way to build and control tiny particles that can move and work like microscopic robots, offering a powerful tool with applications in biomedical and environmental research.

Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF)—According to a new report, American research universities like the University of Colorado in recent decades have become engines of innovation for state and regional economies, thanks in large part to the federal Bayh-Dole Act, which incentivizes technology commercialization.

The ATLAS Institute—Plastics are an increasingly intractable global environmental and health concern, and bio-based alternatives have yet to see widespread adoption. Carson Bruns aims to change all that with a new line of research focused on turning agricultural materials into bio-based plastics that can be more easily recycled, composted or even used as fertilizer.