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Fueling Innovation

Empowering and nurturing CWRU’s next generation of entrepreneurs

Photo by Roger Mastroianni Michael Goldberg, the inaugural executive director of CWRU’s Veale Institute for Entrepreneurship, on the fabrication floor at the university’s Larry Sears and Sally Zlotnick Sears think[box]. The institute is housed at think[box], the largest open-access innovation center and makerspace in the United States.

Case Western Reserve University students and faculty are brimming with big entrepreneurial ideas. Many are deeply engaged in research that could lead to real-world solutions, others have launched businesses, and still others are eager to explore the startup ecosystem to see where it leads.

It’s Michael Goldberg’s mission to help guide them. As the inaugural executive director of the university’s Veale Institute for Entrepreneurship, he’s a trusted adviser, indispensable connector and valued idea man.

Founded five years ago, the Veale Institute has grown to six staff members. It also has deepened its reach and impact, helping to create a stronger entrepreneurial campus culture with a spate of programs and welcoming introductory activities. They include business-pitch competitions, seed-funding, entrepreneurial fellowships, a speaker series and new ties with alumni who mentor or fund budding business creators.

"We’re trying to spark innovation by nurturing the creativity and curiosity in our own community—even when ideas are at their earliest stages," said Goldberg, also a professor of innovation and design, and program coordinator for entrepreneurship at Weatherhead School of Management. "Now, students, alums and faculty have resources that help them progress to the next level, no matter where they are on their journey."

INCLUSIVE APPROACH

Located within the Larry Sears and Sally Zlotnick Sears think[box]—the largest open-access makerspace in the country—the institute is funded by a $20 million endowment from the Veale Foundation and named in honor of the late entrepreneur Tinkham Veale II (CIT ’37).

While not all CWRU entrepreneurial initiatives run through Veale, the institute aims to be a central hub of campus innovation with a smartly organized and growing portfolio of offerings.

For example, the institute recently transformed a small-grants program into a rebranded initiative with annual funding doubled to $60,000 and called the THINK, DO, THRIVE Grant Program.

It provides "THINK" grants (up to $1,000) to support full-time students exploring business ideas—including those aiming to tackle societal problems; "DO" grants (up to $2,500) to aid those with prototypes or proofs of concept; and the Morgan Startup Grant (up to $5,000) to help student, alumni and faculty businesses thrive by funding costs such as professional services, rent and salaries.

The institute’s expanding work comes as the broader university ecosystem accelerates research and discovery and creates more opportunities to translate them into impactful solutions. The Office of Research and Technology Management is helping drive an increase in CWRU’s $550 million faculty-led research enterprise and the commercialization of campus innovations. The new 189,000-square-foot Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building—slated to open in fall 2026—will support discoveries that could be commercialized in the nearby CWRU-led startup business incubator.

"The future is bright," said Goldberg, who envisions 80% of CWRU undergraduate students eventually having a campus entrepreneurial experience. "While we’re proud of the progress we’ve made, I can’t wait to see what our students, alums and faculty do next."

FROM UNDERGRADUATE TO STARTUP CEO

Roger MastroianniFranco Kraiselburd working in a lab on the Case Western Reserve University campus.

As a teenager in Brazil, Franco Kraiselburd (CWR ’24) studied cellular biology, aiming for a career creating real-world solutions to address pressing medical needs.

He came to Case Western Reserve for his undergraduate education, drawn by the pioneering stem-cell and regenerative-medicine work of Arnold Caplan, PhD, a renowned biology professor who died earlier this year.

Using the knowledge he partly gained working in Caplan’s Skeletal Research Center on campus, Kraiselburd co-founded a startup, Asclepii, in 2022 and became its CEO.

The company is developing what it calls "the next generation" of technology to regenerate tissue. Its first product is in the works, a wound-care bandage that covers an injured site and contains medicines absorbed through the skin to regenerate damaged tissue. While many of Kraiselburd’s ideas predated his arrival on campus, he credits the Veale Institute for Entrepreneurship and executive director Michael Goldberg’s mentorship specifically, for what came next.

"I only became an entrepreneur because of the Veale Institute," he said. "It helped me turn my science into a business and unlock an entrepreneurial fervor I didn’t know I had."

Institute staff members helped Kraiselburd learn business basics and make industry connections. They also worked with him to write grant applications and secure a place in a regional National Science Foundation entrepreneurship training program—which later led to him becoming an instructor with the program nationally.

He also won a $4,000 first-place award in the research category during this year’s Morgenthaler-Pavey Startup Competition. The contest, overseen by the Veale Institute, awards $50,000 in grants annually to student ventures and was recently expanded to also provide prizes for ideas, research and social impact.

Last spring, Kraiselburd was a finalist at the prestigious South by Southwest Pitch competition in Austin, Texas, along with other tech entrepreneurs. The institute raised funds for his travel, and the night before he flew to Austin, Kraiselburd practiced his pitch before Veale staff and others on campus.

"I couldn’t have done it without them," he said. "They went above and beyond. It’s unlike any other environment I’ve seen for support."

A STUDENT EAGER TO FUND AND ADVISE STARTUPS

Photo by Roger MastroianniEvelyn Urbancsok in the Larry Sears and Sally Zlotnick Sears think[box] innovation center on campus.

Fourth-year biomedical engineering major Evelin Urbancsok is learning about entrepreneurship through an investor lens.

"I’ve always been interested in how people make new things to solve problems—and how these products are brought to market," said Urbancsok, a native of Hungary who chose CWRU partly for its growing focus on entrepreneurship.

She has taken part in many of the Veale Institute’s experiential learning opportunities with an eye toward funding and advising entrepreneurs as a venture capitalist (VC).

One of the institute’s first Veale Barbara R. Snyder Entrepreneurial Fellows in 2022, Urbancsok took part in yearlong programming explaining entrepreneurship and what it takes to succeed.

Her cohort of fellows traveled to Silicon Valley and Spain, where they met with business founders and investors and got a holistic perspective on how various aspects of the entrepreneurial ecosystem fit together.

"Being an entrepreneur is not a one-person job—you need a network to rely on for feedback, mentorship and advice," Urbancsok said. "Eventually, I want to help other people grow their businesses."

Through the Veale Institute, she became a leader in CWRU’s chapter of the Northeast Ohio Student Venture Fund, which performs due diligence on startups and then makes investments.

She also is a student fellow with the CWRU Alumni Venture Fund, which so far has provided early-stage funding to 13 startups founded by alumni, faculty or students.

"I’m learning how to be a VC by doing," she said. The institute "opened doors and my mind to possibilities. Exploring all of these paths is helping me find what I will dedicate myself to."

A CHEMICAL ENGINEER LAUNCHES AN ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY

Christine Duval

Christine Duval’s interest in nuclear power as a clean-energy source is fueled by its potential to help the climate by reducing reliance on greenhouse-gas emissions. But a key aspect of the technology’s future economic viability is reducing the recycling cost of nuclear fuel.

"There needs to be a business case," said Duval, PhD, an associate professor of chemical engineering at Case Western Reserve.

Most nuclear fuel, Duval said, is discarded after five years, despite retaining nearly 95% of its energy. With funds from a U.S. Department of Energy program providing grants for high-potential energy research projects too early for private-sector investment, Duval and her lab team worked with Argonne National Laboratory to build a prototype for recycling used nuclear fuel. They’re performing tests to validate its performance while considering how best to take the work to market.

To gain entrepreneurial skills to commercialize her research, Duval was a Veale Faculty Fellow during the past academic year, meeting with experts and attending workshops to learn more about the startup journey and how to refine the value proposition of new technology.

Run by the Veale Institute, the fellowship program also created marketing materials for Duval—including displays about the prototype and a video to explain and market the technology. She’s already used them at one national energy summit. She also learned how to present her research to potential investors.

"I feel much stronger describing and communicating our technology to people who might not be experts," Duval said.

The fellowship showed Duval how she can balance her academic work with entrepreneurial ventures. Her inclination is to see the technology licensed rather than pursue a business full time.

"Being an entrepreneur doesn’t mean you have to start or run your own company," she said. "The entrepreneurship journey is different for every person, and now I have a better idea of what mine could look like."

— DANIEL ROBISON