ÊÖ»ú¿´Æ¬

University of South ÊÖ»ú¿´Æ¬

ÊÖ»ú¿´Æ¬ Research & Innovation

ÊÖ»ú¿´Æ¬RI Newsroom

ÊÖ»ú¿´Æ¬ is well represented among Tampa Bay Innovation Award winners

by Ann Comer-Woods, ÊÖ»ú¿´Æ¬ Research & Innovation

Psilera alumni

Psilera cofounders Jackie von Salm and Chris Witowski

Four companies and a nonprofit organization led or founded by University of South ÊÖ»ú¿´Æ¬ alumni, two Cyber ÊÖ»ú¿´Æ¬ programs, a former ÊÖ»ú¿´Æ¬ CONNECT Student Innovation Incubator company, an AI hub developed at ÊÖ»ú¿´Æ¬, and a Tampa General Hospital partnership will be among the 23 recipients of Tampa Bay Inno Awards at a ceremony hosted by the Tampa Bay Business Journal on November 18.

Tampa-based biotechnology company will be recognized in the Deal of the Year category for its 2025 licensing agreement that transferred its DMT (N,N-dimethyltryptamine) patent portfolio to atai Life Scences, a biopharmaceutical company based in Berlin, Germany. Last year, the ÊÖ»ú¿´Æ¬ Research Foundation invested $200,000 in Psilera, which was cofounded in 2019 by ÊÖ»ú¿´Æ¬ alumni Chris Witowski and Jackie von Salm as part of ÊÖ»ú¿´Æ¬ CONNECT’s Tampa Bay Technology Incubator.

The St. Petersburg-based shared service organization and an AI-based partnership between and technology company Palantir will represent two of the three winners in the Partnership of the Year category. ÊÖ»ú¿´Æ¬ Health and Tampa General form one of the nation’s leading academic health systems. The Hypathia Collaborative CEO is Linsey Grove, a ÊÖ»ú¿´Æ¬ College of Public Health graduate and instructor.

Zafer Unal

ÊÖ»ú¿´Æ¬ College of Education Professor Zafer Unal received an award for TeacherServer AI at last year's Tampa Bay Inno Awards ceremony.

, an all-in-one digital tool for managing school safety, and , a free AI platform for teachers, will be recognized in the EdTech category. Pikmykid, cofounded by Chief Operating Officer and ÊÖ»ú¿´Æ¬ alumna Chitra Kanagaraj, began as a project in the ÊÖ»ú¿´Æ¬ CONNECT Student Innovation Incubator. TeacherServer AI, which won Tech Project of the Year at least year’s ceremony, was created by Zafer Unal, a ÊÖ»ú¿´Æ¬ College of Education professor and 2022 ÊÖ»ú¿´Æ¬ I-Corps program participant.

Cyber ÊÖ»ú¿´Æ¬â€™s and will be recognized in the Supporter category. phaseZero assists new entrepreneurs in building cybersecurity-centered businesses while SOCAP provides paid internships for students in the cybersecurity field.

and , tech companies led respectively by ÊÖ»ú¿´Æ¬ Muma College of Business graduates Peter Bellini and Lars Letonoff, will be recognized for accomplishments in the cybersecurity category.

Return to article listing

ÊÖ»ú¿´Æ¬RI NEWS ARCHIVE

Learn more about ÊÖ»ú¿´Æ¬ research by viewing  (2010-2019).

ÊÖ»ú¿´Æ¬RI Social Media

To keep up to date on ÊÖ»ú¿´Æ¬RI news, see our official social media accounts. Follow us on , , , and .