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May 4, 2021

Yale Innovation Summit kicks off May 18

PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED The Yale Innovation Summit will hold its 7th year of a “Shark Tank” style entrepreneurship event this month. Above, the summit in 2019.
By Joanna Smiley

Four years ago, Erika Smith quit her job running the Yale Innovation Center to answer an entrepreneurial calling: CEO of biotechnology company, ReNetX Bio, Inc.

“When I saw the technology and opportunity that has the potential to reverse damage for people who have injury in their brains or spinal cords, I leaned into the company as CEO,” Smith remarked proudly.

From May 18-May 21, The Yale Innovation Summit will hold its 7th year of a “Shark Tank” style entrepreneurship event. This year’s event will be virtual and Smith is one of several presenters.

“Our main goal is to be a connection hub. We want to get people with ideas in front of investors,” said Timothy J. Opstrup, director, finance & administration at the Office of Cooperative Research at Yale University.

The summit will have a bio/pharma focus and will feature three full days of live pitches with about 12 pitches each day, according to Opstrup.

Smith is quick to note that the close community connections at Yale, as well as Connecticut Innovations and Spring Mountain Capital, a Yale-funded private equity firm in New York City, were key to her company’s early growth.

Over the last 25 years, Smith’s career has continued to flourish. She’s advanced dozens of biotech companies and launched three investment funds:  the Blavatnik Fund for Innovation at Yale, the YEI (Yale) Innovation Fund, and the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) BioLife Fund in partnership with Johnson & Johnson.  She also co-authored a playbook for best practices of "Empowering Women Entrepreneurs" sponsored by JPMorgan Chase (INBIA). 

Her passion for inspiring future female business leaders even earned her a 2019 Innovation Award from U.S. Sen. Christopher Murphy.

If there’s one piece of advice Smith could give to budding entrepreneurs it would be encouraging them to “pressure test” their story with third party eyes, such as a small group of trusted advisors.

“You don’t want to have conversations with everyone and their brother, go to trusted advisors first to make sure you’re hitting the right marks,” she noted.

Akansha Bhargava, another female entrepreneur presenting at the Summit, is a trained physician developing several companies and technologies with a “serial entrepreneur partner” she met at Yale.

“My advice to other female business leaders is to just go for it. I think there’s a lot of opportunities in this space for people who are willing to take that chance and think outside the box. While the role of an entrepreneur is difficult, it’s a really rewarding pathway to pursue. Finding people who are willing to work with you, and finding mentors along the way, are very key,” she said.

One day, Opstrup hopes New Haven becomes as big as Kendall Square in Cambridge.

“This year we’re focusing on New Haven as  a city where innovation can happen. We want our entrepreneurs to know they can stay in New Haven and start their companies,” he noted, adding that he is especially excited about the 101 College Street project, which will bring a new 10-story, 500,000 square-foot bioscience lab and office tower to the city.

“We want New Haven to be a great place to start a business and stay to grow that business. It’s perfectly situated between Boston and New York, that’s one of the great selling points,” he said, noting New Haven is far less expensive than those two cities.

“We’re on the cusp of a new frontier and I’m really looking forward to the next 50 years,” Opstrup added.

For more information about the Innovation Summit visit: https://ocr.yale.edu/yaleinnovationsummit.

New Haven Biz readers may enter promo code NHB when purchasing their ticket for $25 off the list price.

Contact Joanna Smiley at jsmiley@newhavenbiz.com.

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