The Shenango LaunchBox powered by the Greater Sharon Community will host a ribbon cutting event on Wednesday, Oct. 18, to celebrate the opening of its new location.

The Invent Penn State Venture & IP Conference, one of the largest tech startup conferences in the mid-Atlantic, will take place Oct. 16 and 17 at the Hershey Lodge in Hershey. The conference will highlight innovations from high-growth and emerging markets, showcase disruptive technologies and early-stage companies born from Penn State research, and feature two special keynote events.

Adelina Hristova, who earned her doctor from the Penn State College of Education in 2016, launched a marketing campaign for her publishing company through Happy Valley LaunchBox powered by PNC Bank’s Digital TestLab accelerator program. She also had her company’s mascot 3D printed at OriginLabs, Happy Valley’s newest prototyping and fabrication space.

The Invent Penn State team has released a free virtual Playbook entitled “Making Entrepreneurship Accessible in Rural America,” which shares the full narrative behind the building of the network, as well as a compilation of insights from network leaders. 

Brad Zdenek has been appointed director of economic development and student programs, effective Sept. 25. Steve Carpenter has been appointed director of research startups, effective Sept. 18.

Happy Valley LaunchBox powered by PNC Bank has accepted eight early-stage business startups into its fall 2023 FastTrack Accelerator program. The startups selected range from glowing soap and a modern color vision test, to a Latin American gaming media group, an arts education company and an adventure STEAM summer camp.

In the latest episode of Invent Penn State’s “Dare to Disrupt” podcast, host Ryan Newman interviews Joe Altieri, “Shark Tank” entrepreneur and FlexScreen inventor and CEO.

Penn State leaders are requesting increased appropriations for the 2024-25 fiscal year that, if approved by the commonwealth, would narrow the per-student funding gap that exists between Penn State and Pennsylvania’s other public universities. The funding request is being submitted as a part of the commonwealth’s annual budget process.

Vanessa Sexton, a recent Penn State Abington graduate who is now enrolled in the MBA program at Penn State Great Valley, is quickly advancing in her career thanks to the diverse and marketable curriculum that is only available through Abington’s customizable integrative arts major.

Applications for the fall 2023 Idea TestLab offered by Happy Valley LaunchBox powered by PNC Bank are open until midnight, Sept. 18. The four-week program helps participants determine if their startup idea can be turned into a viable business.