Hard-tech founders, researchers, and innovation partners gathered Oct. 22 at the Georgia Tech Institute for Matter and Systems (IMS) for the second annual Founders Night. The event connected entrepreneurs with facilities, funding, product development expertise, and manufacturing resources that can help move technologies from the laboratory to the marketplace.

“Progress rarely happens in isolation,” said Eric Vogel, executive director of IMS. “You need to interact with people with different experiences and capabilities, share ideas, make an introduction and challenge an assumption.”

 Vogel encouraged attendees to exchange ideas, make new connections, and identify opportunities to collaborate.

Billyde Brown, external user outreach manager and senior research engineer at IMS, organized the event around three goals: celebrating founders, connecting them with innovation partners, and strengthening support for hard-tech startups in Atlanta.

“Founders Night is about bringing all of these players together so we can network, collaborate, and make connections,” said Brown.

Two Georgia Tech founders illustrated how research can lead to commercial applications. Mark Prausnitz, Regents’ Professor, Regents’ Entrepreneur, and J. Erskine Love Jr. Chair in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, discussed how his laboratory’s microneedle research has supported companies developing technologies for drug delivery, eye care, and dermatology. Harry Watkins, co-founder and president of Stellar Scale Nano Fabrication, described how the Georgia Tech spinout is commercializing a faster nanoscale 3D-printing platform. 

“We want to support and enable founders by connecting them with local innovation ecosystem partners who can provide critical resources, facilities and other assistance,” said Brown.

The event highlighted local resources available through the Metro Atlanta Chamber, Georgia Research Alliance, and Kicker Labs, as well as manufacturing pathways offered by LioniX International and Silex Microsystems. Together, these organizations offer support ranging from funding and product development assistance to site selection and commercial manufacturing.

The evening concluded with tours of IMS’s Materials Characterization Facility, Micro/Nano Fabrication Cleanroom, followed by a networking reception.

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