Monthly news, events & updates

Building a Rainforest in the Desert | September 2023

Accepting Applications for Fall Rainforest Accelerator

The Rainforest Accelerator, administered by UNM Rainforest Innovations, will assist teams of UNM faculty or students to go outside of their laboratories and into the marketplace where they can learn first-hand about entrepreneurship while they go through the market discovery process for their innovation.

The outcomes of program projects will include a recommendation based on an assessment of the viability of the overall business model and substantial first-hand evidence for or against product-market fit, with a definition of the customer segments and corresponding value propositions.

In this program, teams of faculty and/or students, entrepreneurs, and mentors (mentors provided by the Rainforest Accelerator) receive $3,000 of funding to develop an idea, and complete extensive market discovery for a disclosed UNM technology.

The program will run on Mondays, 4:00-5:30 p.m. from October 2, 2023 through December 4, 2023 online via Zoom meetings.

Learn more and apply

UNM & CNM App Contest

Opportunity for undergraduate students from UNM and CNM to develop and apply app design and presentation skills to plan useful applications for the community. Learn more at: https://appcontest.unm.edu/

Join the meet-up on Wednesday, September 27 from 3:00 - 6:00 p.m. at the Lobo Rainforest Building to partner with team members and work with technical mentors.

UNM Rainforest Innovations Welcomes Two New Board Members

Linda Griego

Founder, MLK Health and Wellness Community Development Corporation

Donna Riley, PhD

Jim and Ellen King Dean of Engineering and Computing, UNM School of Engineering

Professor, UNM Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering

Sanjeev Arora Receives the 2023 New Mexico Humanitarian Award

This year, Sanjeev Arora, MD, the founder and executive director of Project ECHO, was chosen as the 2023 New Mexico Humanitarian Award recipient. The award recognizes New Mexicans who have done extraordinary work and set an example for others by demonstrating a passion for philanthropy, human welfare, social reform, and values-based investing.

Dr. Arora, a tenured professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at UNM’s School of Medicine, developed an innovative model to treat chronic and complex diseases in rural and underserved area of New Mexico while also helping lower the cost of healthcare. The program provides specialty care throughout the state by linking expert, interdisciplinary specialist teams with primary care clinicians through teleECHO clinics. The experts co-manage patient cases and share their expertise via mentoring, guidance, feedback, and education. First launched in 2003, the program has expanded to partner with leading organizations like the World Health Organization, leading universities, and non-governmental organizations.

Learn more

In the Spotlight - Featured UNM Inventor

Lok-kun Tsui, Ph.D.

Research Associate Professor

Center for Micro-Engineered Materials

The University of New Mexico

Dr. Tsui’s research areas include:

Electro-chemical gas sensors for methane detection
Additive manufacturing for printed electronics

Can AI Generate Intellectual Property?

New Mexico Rainforest Seminar

September 21 | 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. (MDT)

Artificial Intelligence is a useful tool. It can help to draw inferences from a vast quantity of data and bodies of content. It can produce a variety of textual expression and visual expressions. An important by-product from the use of AI is intellectual property. Some of that which AI generates can qualify as an intellectual property.

Charles Valauskas will identify how and in what context AI can produce subject matter that is protect-able as an intellectual property.

Charles Valauskas is legal counsel to business ventures, non-profit organizations, and individuals involved in the development and commercialization of a variety of new technologies and creative products and services.

This HYBRID event is offered in-person at the Lobo Rainforest Building and virtually via Zoom.

See Charles Valauskas' latest article: Generative Artificial Intelligence Large Language Models: Interesting Tool, for Certain Contexts

Student Interns @ UNM Rainforest Innovations

Hannah Smith

Student Intellectual Property Assistant

Our featured intern this month is Hannah Smith, the Student Intellectual Property Assistant for UNM Rainforest Innovations. In May, Hannah graduated summa cum laude with her bachelor’s degree in architecture and is now pursuing a master’s degree in project management at UNM’s Anderson School of Management. “I plan to work as a construction project manager, so that I can put the skills I've learned in architecture school to good use.”

As the Student Intellectual Property Assistant, Hannah is tasked with numerous responsibilities related to intellectual property management and protection. “Some of my responsibilities include contacting inventors and scheduling meetings to complete paperwork, organizing and sending documents to the attorneys that we work with, entering new patent filings into the system, and collecting cited references to file in the USPTO. I enjoy the organizational aspect of my job and getting to see all the different types of inventions and corresponding with many different inventors makes it fun and interesting.”

Interested in internships at UNM Rainforest Innovations? Learn more and apply here.

Navigating Pathways – Journeying through the NM Rainforest Entrepreneur Ecosystem as Tribal Entrepreneurs

In 2018, Kyle-Lynn Martinez of Taos Pueblo and San Felipe Pueblo and Travis Snyder of Wind River Shoshoni and Zuni Pueblo founded Morningstar Flower Native Arts. The couple named their business after their daughter and originally started the business so that Kyle-Lynn could be a stay-at-home mom and work from home while raising their daughter. Their business started off as a way for them to sell art and works created by their family members, but with a family history of artists specializing in Zuni fetishes and jewelry, Travis began creating and selling art pieces of his own. Fast forward to 2023, Kyle and Travis are well on their way to growing and scaling their business to the next level.

Tune in tomorrow, September 8 to listen to our interview with Kyle and Travis and learn more about Morningstar Flower Native Arts and their entrepreneurial journey!

Attend Upcoming Open Office Hours

Providing Mentoring for Your Startup/Idea

SCORE Mentors at the Lobo Rainforest Building

September 29 | 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (MDT)

UNM Rainforest Innovations collaborates with SCORE to offer mentoring and confidential discussions for aspiring and established entrepreneurs, inventors, students, and start-up companies.

SCORE’s certified mentors are successful business people and entrepreneurs with the goal of giving 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.

In addition to their work with the SBA, SCORE mentor Dar Johnson is on the board for the New Mexico American Indian Chamber of Commerce (AICC) and has helped many Native American clients take advantage of his advice and experience. If you are a Native American entrepreneur in New Mexico, you are encouraged to take advantage of this FREE resource in partnership with UNMRI and the NM Tribal Entrepreneurship Enhancement Program (NMTEEP).

These are IN-PERSON office hours at the Lobo Rainforest Building.

Financial Mentoring with Steve Hoyer

October 6 | 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (MDT)

Financial Tune-up: "I don’t need to know your business to know your business’s financials." All financial statements follow the same flow and format to allow for comparisons by investors. Income Statements, Balance Sheets, Cash Flows, Capital Budgeting are the main financial tools used.

Make sure the forecasts and projections in your proposals are financially sound. Have your financials reviewed to be sure they are formatted in a manner investors, banks and lenders expect and require.

These are IN-PERSON office hours at the Lobo Rainforest Building.

Rainforest Student Pitch Competition

Do you have an innovative idea for a product, service, or technology?

Would you like to win money to help turn your idea into a reality? The Rainforest Pitch Competition provides an opportunity for students of all majors and from any New Mexico university to pitch their entrepreneurial ideas for a chance to win from a pool of over $5,000 in cash prizes.

Deadline to apply: October 24, 2023

LEARN MORE AND APPLY

UNM Rainforest Innovations | Website

Staff Listing

Board of Directors

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