Women Innovators Initiative (WI2)

The Women Innovators Initiative is a Cornell initiative to Engage, Empower, and Grow women faculty, staff, and graduate students on the path toward technology innovation and entrepreneurial leadership.

 

Goals:

• Introduce women faculty, staff and students to technology innovation and commercialization, and help increase their participation in inventorship.
• Support their interests and exploration in entrepreneurship and leadership roles.

Programs:

• WI2 Event series
  • A series of seminars, webinars, and networking events.
  • Learn from inspiring women inventors and entrepreneurs
• WI2 Mentor program
  • Match mentors (seasoned women innovators, entrepreneurs, and/or investors) with mentee (aspiring and novice inventors and entrepreneurs).
  • Cultivate the next generation of leaders with the help of our volunteering alumnae.

Details:

 

• WI2 Events
  • • June 2020: Webinar “Women Inventors at Cornell – Creating and Growing an Ecosystem of Innovation”.
      Read about the webinar and the speakers here.

   

  • • September 2020: Webinar “Investing in Women Entrepreneurs”.
      Read about the webinar and the panelists here.

   

  • April 2021: Webinar “Running a Startup: Perspective of Two Women Founders and CEOs from Cornell”
    Read about the webinar and the panelists here.

 

• WI2 Mentor program
  • Duration: Commitment of a year.

 

Eligibility criteria / Requirements

	Mentors	Mentee
Who	Alumnae volunteers who are willing to provide advice and perspectives on technology innovation, commercialization, startups and other related activities.	Cornell Faculty, Staff (post-doctoral fellows), and Grad students who are interested in technology, commercialization and new ventures and wish to learn from experienced women leaders
Background	Experienced in technology commercialization, and Startup creation	Conducting research at Cornell
Process	Review a list of pre-selected candidates	Express a substantiated interest in the program
Match	Select up to three mentees per year	One designed mentor
Commitment	At least two meetings per mentee in a year. Willing to share email with mentee.	At least two one-on-one meeting with mentor per year Respectful of mentor time Responsive to mentor’s emails

For Mentees:

 

Application process:

• Submit online application here.
• The team at CTL will screen the application and will propose them for review to the mentors.
• Once selected, mentees are introduced to their mentor through a virtual introduction.

For more information, please contact Lynda Inseque at Lci2@cornell.edu

 

For mentors:

 

If you are interested in serving as a mentor, please contact Lynda Inseque at Lci2@cornell.edu.

 

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Partner Programs & Events

 

Weill Cornell Medicine Women Founders Initiative

The Women Founders Initiative at WCM will host and promote several initiatives to help women innovators become successful entrepreneurs and leaders. Learn more.

 

Equalize

Equalize is a virtual mentor program and pitch competition designed to take national action around the disparity of women academic inventors forming university startups.

>> Call for applications

Application Info Sessions (Video)

Applications for the 2022 cohort are due Nov. 10, 2021.