Featuring

#US Ecosystem of Startup and SME Support:
Focus on Selected Ecosystem Pillars
(Technology, Incubation/Acceleration & Financing)

Many of the world’s most valuable companies had humble beginnings as startups. Today, groundbreaking innovations can occur in a basement, a garage, or a college dorm. As a result, new startups pop up every day all around the world, each of them hoping to get acquired by a larger company or make it big. Everybody wants in—the question is:

What are the key pillars of the ecosystem to support startups?

Join our panel discussion on December 12, 2018 as we explore some of the key pillars of the U.S. ecosystem that enables “unicorns” to become real.

Featured Speakers:

DR. SHARON T. FREEMAN (moderator), President and CEO, Gems of Wisdom Consulting and author of #US Ecosystem of Startup and SME Support: An Entrepreneur’s Perspective

ANDREW F. GELFUSO (welcoming remarks), Vice President of Global Business Development, World Trade Center, Washington, DC @ Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center

DR. NANCY KAMEI, Program Director focused on Medical Devices and Digital Health of the National Science Foundation (NSF)

EDSEL BROWN, Deputy Director, Office of Innovation and Technology, U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Investment and Innovation

AARON SAUNDERS, Founder & CEO of Clearly Innovative Inc. & Inclusive Innovation Incubator, In3 DC

DAVE MCCARTHY, Associate Director, AccelerateDC at George Washington University, Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship

BRIAN T. KENNER, Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development is invited to open the forum