Success Stories
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Veterans Business Outreach Center (VBOC) at Penn State is establishing partnerships with State Correctional Institutions (SCIs) across the Commonwealth to help build, grow, and enhance entrepreneurial education programming for incarcerated veterans. Over the past year, VBOC has begun collaborating with SCIs to support and strengthen entrepreneurship programming within Veterans Service Units (VSUs). The work reflects Invent Penn State’s broader…
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UNIVERSITY PARK – Community members across Centre, Clinton, Lycoming and Mifflin counties are invited to celebrate National SBDC Day with the Penn State Small Business Development Center (SBDC) on March 18 from 1 – 3 p.m. SBDC Day is a nationally recognized commemoration of America's SBDCs and their impact on the success of small businesses across the country. This SBDC Day, the Penn State SBDC will highlight Nittany…
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UNIVERSITY PARK – Penn State students are encouraged to apply for the Dare to Disrupt Design & Build Challenge – a hands-on, team-based experience for students to turn ideas into real, physical builds using professional prototyping tools at OriginLabs. Over two guided build sessions, selected students will design, prototype, and fabricate a visually striking…
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UNIVERSITY PARK – Students, faculty, staff, and community members are invited to attend the 2026 Invent Penn State Inc.U pitch competition on Saturday, March 21 from 1 – 3 pm. Six undergraduate student teams will compete for cash prizes of up to $15,000. Attendees will also have the opportunity to vote for the People’s Choice Award, which comes with…
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Two Penn State staff members working in different disciplines saw a similar opportunity for themselves: to turn years of professional and academic expertise into consulting businesses they could build alongside their university roles. Both knew what they wanted to do, but not how to navigate the legal steps of making a business official. They turned to the Penn…
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UNIVERSITY PARK — David Huff, professor of turfgrass breeding and genetics at Penn State, recently earned the Research Innovator Award through the College of Agricultural Sciences for the research and entrepreneurial leadership that led to the founding of his startup, PennPoa. PennPoa aims to transform the turfgrass industry through the commercialization of highly cultivated Poa annua, or annual bluegrass, seed varieties for the golf…
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UNIVERSITY PARK – Invent Penn State’s NSF I-Corps Short Course is accepting applications for its virtual January/February cohort. The no-cost program helps researchers test a startup idea through customer interviews and educational programming on the lean startup methodology. The cohort will begin on Friday, January 30 and runs through Friday, February 13. The cohort will meet virtually once…
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A Penn State research-based startup is developing a soft, minimally invasive neural implant intended to reduce inflammation and improve communication with the brain for individuals with drug-resistant epilepsy or living with paralysis. The team recently participated in the Invent Penn State U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF)…
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HARRISBURG - Reins to Recovery, a consulting and systems-development service that helps barn managers and equine nonprofits operate sustainably, won first place and $4,500 in the 2025 Veteran’s Business Bootcamp Pitch Competition. The pitch competition, held at Harrisburg LaunchBox powered by Penn State and sponsored by Truist, was the culminating…
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