Innovation in Action: Highlights and Winners from the 2025 Yale Innovation Summit

“Our universities are our greatest strength as a state and as a country,” said Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont ’80 MBA, capturing the spirit of the 2025 Yale Innovation Summit during the event’s opening remarks. That strength was on full display May 28–29, as more than 2,300 founders, investors, researchers, and industry leaders gathered on Yale’s campus to celebrate bold ideas shaping the future. The Summit reflects a deepening alignment across Connecticut’s public, private, and academic sectors—and the strength of cross-disciplinary collaboration within Yale. From medicine to music, engineering to the arts, the event showcased the university’s full spectrum, underscoring how innovation thrives when diverse fields and institutions work together toward shared impact.
Hosted by Yale Ventures, the Summit continues to grow as one of the Northeast’s premier gatherings for innovation and entrepreneurship, offering a dynamic platform for early-stage ventures founded by Yale and Connecticut innovators. Attendees represented a global community, hailing from over 30 states and 17 countries. Roughly one-third of attendees were affiliated with Yale, including faculty, students, and staff, while the remainder represented a mix of entrepreneurs, investors, private and public partners. Two days, six pitch competitions, 60+ panels, and signature programming—including the Yale Investor Assembly and the Connecticut Innovation Pavilion, sparked real momentum for ventures working to improve human health, build more resilient cities, develop sustainable energy solutions, and pioneer new funding models for artists and creatives.
In her first address at the Yale Innovation Summit, Yale President Maurie McInnis, B.A. ’90, M.A. ’96, Ph.D. underscored the profound potential of research-driven innovation:
“A single breakthrough in the lab can reverberate around the globe and across generations.”
That spirit of impact was reflected in the extraordinary breadth of innovation on display from across Yale’s schools and programs. Deans and leadership from Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science, Yale School of Management, Yale School of Medicine, Yale School of Music, Yale Planetary Solutions, the Yale Provost’s Office, Yale School of Public Health were present at the closing awards ceremony, underscoring the depth of institutional support and cross-campus collaboration driving Yale’s innovation ecosystem forward.
This theme of cross-sector alignment was echoed in the MADE Innovation panel moderated by Dan O’Keefe, Connecticut’s Chief Innovation Officer and Commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), featuring leaders from Biohaven, BioCT, and QuantumCT. Panelists emphasized Connecticut’s "one-call-away" ethos—a culture of connectivity where entrepreneurs can easily access support and decision-makers. As Dr. Albert Green, CEO of QuantumCT, noted, “It’s that village mentality of access and support that I’ve never seen in any other state.” That infrastructure was on full display at the Innovation Pavilion, where DECD hosted “office hours” giving entrepreneurs direct access to key state agencies and resources.
More than $350,000 in funding and prizes was awarded to this year’s Summit winners, a cohort that reflects the forward momentum of the region’s innovation economy. From equitable housing and regenerative medicine to AI-enabled healthcare and sustainable energy, these ventures represent the next wave of transformative impact born from Yale research and Connecticut ingenuity.
AWARDEES
Virtual Showcase Winners
1st Place: Grace – Stephen Dest
2nd Place: Avisk – Todd Cort
3rd Place: Breath Free – Mike Theran
E-Poster Category Winners
Best Arts: Crooked Letter – Gabriel Gomez
Best Biotech: Rigimmune – Susan Sobolov
Best Civic: Amuse – Dakota Stipp
Best Climate: VIRV – Nick Holland
Best Health: PriMetaz – Ryan McNaughton
Best Tech: Morphic – Austin Cai
Golden Ticket Awards
BioLabs: EpiTET Therapeutics – Erika Smith
District: NurseBrain – Samu Mhlambi
Climate Haven: Verustruct – Nick Caligeri
Arts Pitch Contest
Business Model Innovation Winner: Preemadonna – Pree Walia
Business Model Innovation (Audience Choice): poem RENOVATION – Kelly de la Rocha
Creative Innovation Winner: Haus of Black – Jonah Craggett
Creative Innovation (Audience Choice): Six Figure DJs – Loren Jefferson
Biotech Pitch Contest
1st Place & Audience Choice: Rho Bio – Jennifer Beecham
2nd Place: Revalia Bio – Greg Tietjen
3rd Place: Altera Therapeutics – Anjali Ramaswamy
Civic Pitch Contest
Panel Prize: Communities for Generations – Arden Santana, Belito Garcia, Hafeeza Ture, Mustafa Abdul-Salaam
Community Choice: New Haven United – Jason Price and players
Climate Pitch Contest
1st Place & Audience Choice: Oxylus Energy – Perry Bakas
2nd Place: Verustruct – Nick Calligari
3rd Place: Talam Biotech – John Chrosniak
Health Pitch Contest
1st Place: Wavelet – Liz Golden
2nd Place: Conduce Health – Najib Jai
3rd Place: Upkeep Care – Blake Robertson
Audience Choice: ForEVA – Jaya Dadwal
Tech Pitch Contest
1st Place & Audience Choice: Iridia – Murali Prahalad
2nd Place: Matrix Rental Solutions – Sipho Simela
3rd Place: Coral Messaging – Teresa Overskei
Blavatnik Fund for Innovation at Yale
Digital Health Awards
Victor Batista – John Gamble Kirkwood Professor of Chemistry
Guannan Gong – Associate Research Scientist
Mark Gerstein – Albert L. Williams Professor of Biomedical Informatics
Yibing Qyang – Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine)
Therapeutics Awards
Whitney Besse – Assistant Professor of Medicine (Nephrology)
Christine Ko – Professor of Dermatology and Pathology
Janghoo Lim – Associate Professor of Genetics and Neuroscience (presented by Ashley Owens)
Dan Wu – Gladys Phillips Crofoot Professor of Pharmacology (presented by Jonathan Birabaharan)
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Full Photo Gallery will be live the week of June 9.
Video recordings of sessions will be available by June 30.