Lessons on Breaking Into the Microelectronics Ecosystem
This summer, we partnered with IEEE Entrepreneurship, the startup community within IEEE, the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity, to produce a panel discussion with three Activate Fellows who are developing new products in the microelectronics sector.
We are excited to announce that the session recording is now available (embedded below) and on October 6th you can join a live Q&A with the panelists: Nishita Deka, Cohort 2018, co-founder & CEO of Sonera Magnetics; Mitchell Hsing, Cohort 2019, co-founder & CEO of InchFab; J Provine, Cohort 2019, co-founder & CEO of of Aligned Carbon.
In the recording you’ll see IEEE Entrepreneurship program director Randi Sumner discuss with the fellows everything from what inspired them to move their research out of the lab, to where they found essential support and leveraged their networks to launch, to what long-term impact they envision for their innovations.
“We're exploring the brain-computer interface, machine learning, computational neuroscience aspects...to figure out what this prototype should look like.”
—Nishita Deka, Cohort 2018; CEO, Sonera Magnetics
Hsing’s startup Inchfab, which he co-founded with Activate Fellow Parker Gould, is democratizing micro- and nanofabrication with an ultra-low-cost micro- and nanofabrication platform to enable a new wave of innovative micro- and nanoscale devices.
At Sonera Magnetics, Deka and her co-founder and co-fellow Dominic Labanokwski are developing a new magnetic sensor to transform room-sized diagnostic machines into wearable devices for non-invasive portable brain-computer interface for consumer, military and industrial use.
“I was a dyed-in-the-wool academic…but the readiness of the technology to be tested in an industrial setting was a really exciting opportunity I didn’t want to miss.”
—J Provine, Cohort 2019, CEO, Aligned Carbon
With his Aligned Carbon co-founder and co-fellow Cara Beasley, Provine is scaling carbon nanotubes (CNTs), in a manufacturable form factor, for integrated circuit manufacturing—and potentially higher frequency RF devices, providing a high-performance transistor material for displays/thin film transistors, and advanced nano-sensor applications.
“Both my co-founder and I went into grad school with an entrepreneurial mindset, wanting to spin something out…and we’re also both very hands-on—we’re makers at heart.”
—Mitchell Hsing, Cohort 2019, CEO, InchFab
These fellows represent three distinct paths to entrepreneurship. When she started grad school, Nishita Deka never expected to go straight from Ph.D. to CEO. Not so for Mitchell Hsing, for who had long been focused on technology transfer. And J Provine was well ensconced in academia when he was drawn into a major pivot to founder.
It’s a great talk, but it’s missing something: You. Watch the full panel session below and then register for the live Q&A on October 6 at 4pm ET / 1pm PT.
You can email your questions in advance to info@activate.org.
Randi Sumner will host the event, with Mary Catherine O’Connor, Activate’s editorial director, moderating the Q&A.
This is a rare opportunity to connect directly with and learn from three engineers who are embedded in the burgeoning microelectronics innovation ecosystem.
Applications for Activate’s Cohort 2021 open October 1, so if you are considering applying, this is a great chance to ask the fellows about their experiences.
Like the IEEE Entrepreneurship community, Activate is solely focused on the success of the engineers it supports. As a non-profit, we do not take equity in fellow-founded companies, and our fellows receive a stipend, startup training, lab access, and intensive mentorship.
Fittingly, October 6 is also IEEE Day, the theme of which is Leveraging Technology for a Better Tomorrow. We hope you’ll join us on this special day to learn more about these three rising hardtech founders and to celebrate their—and your—potential to create a better future for all.