Building a Rainforest in the Desert | June 2026

UNM Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy, Suzanne Burns, was recently featured in the Albuquerque Journal for her startup, myAccessibleHome.

Inspired by her own family and professional experiences in healthcare, Burns co-founded the AI-powered platform to help occupational therapists and care teams identify home safety risks, recommend modifications, and track outcomes. The startup’s goal is to reduce at-home injuries and prevent hospital re-admissions for patients.

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UNM Rainforest Innovations (UNMRI) recently had the honor of hosting Hope Shimabuku, Regional Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) Southwest Regional Outreach Office. Across her three-day visit in late April, Hope engaged with our community through a series of talks that drew from her expertise on intellectual property law and the practical needs of innovators.

Reflecting on the purpose of her office’s outreach, Hope shared, “Intellectual property is part of that arc from idea to impact. The patent system exists to protect creative work while encouraging the sharing of knowledge so others can build on it. When you file for protection, you are doing two things at once: preserving the economic potential of your invention and documenting the technical step that the next innovator will use to go farther. That is how individual ingenuity becomes collective progress.”

Watch the recording of her talk during UNMRI's seminar, A Legal Guide to Patentability Versus Freedom to Operate at the video links below:

Part 1

Part 2

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The University of New Mexico is partnering with Hesperus to bring an Entrepreneurship Bootcamp to Native American Veterans in New Mexico and the Southwest Region of the United States.

Offered only to Native American Veterans, the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans (EBV-NAV) is a unique program created to leverage the skills, resources, and infrastructure of higher education to offer cutting-edge, experiential training in entrepreneurship and small business management to Native American Veterans in New Mexico and the Southwest Region of the United States.

SUMMARY OF PROGRAM

• Phase 1 – Online Course | Begins July 27th | Complete by August 23rd
• Phase 2 – In-person in Albuquerque, NM | September 21st through 24th
• Phase 3 – Ongoing Support and Resources

DISCUSSION TOPICS

• Financing • Legal Issues • Marketing • Design Thinking • Business Model Canvas • Idea Recognition • Operations • Profit Models • Supply Chain • Personal Selling • Leveraging Technology • Government Contracting

ELIGIBILITY

Native American Veterans from New Mexico or the Southwest Region of the United States that have a passion for business ownership.

COST

This program is provided at no cost through the generous support of Hesperus and the University of New Mexico. Expenses covered by the program include lodging, food, and course meals.

Meet with SCORE mentors at the Lobo Rainforest Building or on Zoom! Mentors are available for one-on-one, confidential discussions and mentoring to inventors, students, and start-up companies.

SCORE mentors are successful business people and entrepreneurs who want to give back to the community by helping other entrepreneurs become and stay successful. SCORE has been helping small businesses start and grow in the Albuquerque area for over 50 years through mentoring and workshops and seminars. SCORE is the largest National resource partner of the Small Business Administration (SBA) with about 11,000 SCORE volunteers sharing their time and talents to help America's small businesses.

Interested? Contact Cara Michaliszyn at cmichaliszyn@innovations.unm.edu to arrange.

Advanced Economic Development Leadership Program Accepting Applications for the 2026 Cohort

November 2–5, 2026 in Fort Worth Texas

Participants receive an Economic Development Master Practitioner certificate from the partner universities.

AEDL immerses participants in a collaborative, team-centric approach that fosters learning through exploration, debate, exercises and team competition. The program attracts practitioners from across the U.S. bringing a wide range of thought, ideas and experiences to these sessions. Through this approach and the diversity of thought represented, participants often learn as much from interaction with fellow professionals as they do from faculty instruction.

Learn more and apply

UNM Rainforest Innovations | Website

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