Brown Technology Innovations hosted its fourth annual Innovation@Brown Showcase on Thursday, highlighting projects affiliated with the university and aiming to attract potential investors. The event featured awards for Inventor, Startup, and Innovation of the Year, alongside various showcased ventures displayed outside the main event area.
Professor Anita Shukla was named Inventor of the Year, while Startup of the Year was awarded to Lilac Biosciences, a Providence-based biotech firm co-founded by a Brown alum. The Innovation of the Year honor went to Christopher Horvat, an assistant professor in Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, for his project EMPIRIC, a machine-learning model predicting the effects of cyclones on coastal environments.
The awards are intended as recognition of significant achievements rather than mere participation prizes. Last year’s Startup of the Year, Adept Materials, received further acclaim when its humidity-regulating product, Lilypad Paint, was included in Time Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2026.
Melissa Simon, senior director of business development at Brown Technology Innovations, noted that while all the ventures have ties to Brown, not all are direct spinouts of the university. Some participants are collaborating with University of Rhode Island researchers or clinicians affiliated with Brown’s hospital. Simon emphasized a shift in perception among investors, aiming to redirect their view of Brown from a liberal arts institution to one recognized for significant research contributions.
The showcase featured a wide array of projects, including Modulus Joint’s ACL Armor, a chewable supplement designed to lower the risk of ACL injuries, and RI-Spheres, an NIH-funded device aimed at providing postpartum healthcare directly to new mothers in their homes.
Simon explained the criteria for the awards: the Inventor of the Year is selected based on the volume of patents issued, while Startup of the Year evaluates company development. For the Innovation of the Year, the three finalists were chosen through public voting from a shortlist of ten presented by the BTI team, culminating in live audience voting.
Horvat’s EMPIRIC project seeks to improve forecasting for areas most vulnerable to sea level rise and severe weather events. “High-quality forecasts lead to high-quality decisions regarding critical infrastructure,” Horvat stated, highlighting the potential impact of accurate climate predictions for coastal communities.
Finalists for Innovation of the Year included Abdelfattah Labs’s FiRE, which features a novel molecule designed to accelerate drug testing and brain disease research, and ACT Labs’s Project Aerolink, which focuses on a modular drone platform capable of vertical and horizontal stacking.
Ph.D. student Flavia Maria Galeazzi, involved with FiRE, explained that the molecule enables researchers to convert electrical cellular signals into light, providing clearer data from deeper tissue levels. Will Wu, a second-year computer science Ph.D. student and Aerolink team member, detailed the project’s unique design that allows for innovative 3D structures. He described the possibilities for aerial applications beyond traditional uses, emphasizing a commitment to maintaining artistic integrity in technology development.
The Innovation@Brown Showcase not only celebrated current advancements but also set the stage for future collaborations, reflecting the ongoing commitment of Brown Technology Innovations to foster innovative research and entrepreneurship.
