Success Stories

A believer in education for all - in any format or platform accessible - Adelina Hristova obtained her Ph.D. in Lifelong Learning and Adult Education in 2016 from the Penn State College of Education. She defended her dissertation on informal mobile learning among Romani women in Bulgaria. Originally from Bulgaria,…
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Happy Valley LaunchBox powered by PNC Bank has accepted eight early-stage business startups into its fall 2023 FastTrack Accelerator program. The startups selected range from glowing soap and a modern color vision test to a Latin American gaming media group, an arts education company, and an…
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Have an idea you want to turn into a business? Applications for the Happy Valley LaunchBox powered by PNC Bank Fall 2023 Idea TestLab are open until midnight, September 18, 2023. Idea TestLab is a 4-week program that helps participants determine if their startup idea can…
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - From bridal shops to board game stores to metal roofing contractors, over 1,400 small businesses across 64 Pennsylvania counties have received legal support from the Penn State Law Entrepreneur Assistance Clinic (EAC) in the past year alone. Staffed with 24 law students and three full-time supervising…
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Seven teams of Penn State student startup founders wrapped up what turned out to be an impactful summer for their businesses. Invent Penn State’s Summer Founders Program, which provides each student team with a $15,000 grant to work on their startup, social good, or nonprofit idea over the summer at…
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Domenic Contrino and Gabrielle Giampietro have only just begun their graduate research at Penn State as environmental engineering master's students – but they have already jumped right in to finding real-world problems their research could solve. Contrino and Giampietro are researching how to make the carbon electrode components of batteries…
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Ready to start building your business? Applications for the Happy Valley LaunchBox powered by PNC Bank Fall 2023 FastTrack Accelerator program are open with a deadline set for midnight, September 4, 2023. FastTrack Accelerator is a 10-week program that helps early-stage startups better refine their target…
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Venture Connection, an investor-to-entrepreneur matchmaking event, is now accepting applications. The event will take place during the Invent Penn State Venture & IP Conference Oct. 16-17 at the Hershey Lodge in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Venture Connection pairs entrepreneurs and investors based on industry and capital needs, among other key criteria. Entrepreneurs…
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The Penn State Small Business Development Center (SBDC) recently held a Creative Entrepreneur Roundtable at the Pennsylvania College for Technology to highlight resources and programs that assist creative entrepreneurs, which include those undertaking ventures in music, art, and photography. The Penn State SBDC supports business owners who currently run or…
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