Live Webinar - Innovation & Entrepreneurship Program

2/6/2026
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Location: Online
  Amount
Add to Cart No Fee

This immersive program equips you to critically assess, design, and launch innovation-driven ventures. Whether you’re spinning out a deep-tech startup from a university lab, developing a new software platform, creating a breakthrough restaurant concept, patenting an invention, or placing a product on store shelves, this four-part series is for you. You’ll learn to craft a compelling value proposition, chart early-stage funding paths, safeguard intellectual property, and build a focused go-to-market strategy for sustainable growth. Sessions will be held on Fridays, February 6, 13, 20, and 27.

Highlights:

  • Craft and validate your innovative business concept
  • IP Day: interactive session with an intellectual-property attorney covering patents, trademarks, and licensing
  • Frameworks for protecting and commercializing intellectual property
  • Primer on navigating SBIR/STTR and additional early-stage funding resources
  • Customer discovery, go-to-market planning, and securing initial traction

This series is intended for deep-tech entrepreneurs commercializing inventions, aspiring founders, small-business owners, and innovation leaders who aim to transform bold ideas—hardware, software, products or services—into viable, scalable ventures.

(SBIR/STTR Counseling Eligibility) Graduates of this program are encouraged to finish the Wendy Kennedy Design Your Business Program through its online platform and receive advisory services from SBDC Business Advisors. Graduates are eligible for a "getting started" and a "draft feedback" SBIR/STTR counseling session through Vision2Venture.


Presenter:

Robert Johnson, Director, Vision2Venture

It is imperative to add sbdctraining@uh.edu and no-reply@zoom.us to your approved senders' list to be able to receive event confirmations and links to SBDC events.

Your registration confirmation email will contain a link to join the webinar via Zoom.

Presenter(s):

Robert Johnson

Robert Johnson is the Director of the Vision2Venture (V2V) Program at the University of Houston Texas Gulf Coast SBDC Network, where he specializes in SBIR/STTR grant commercialization and supports early-stage entrepreneurs across the Texas Gulf Coast region. In 2023, he co-founded the Innov8 Hub program at the University of Houston Technology Bridge, which to date has helped over 50 startups advance deep technology commercialization. Beyond the University of Houston, during 2024-2025, Robert coached startup teams in the region that together secured over $5 million in SBIR/STTR funding.

An entrepreneur since 2006, Robert has successfully launched and managed multiple businesses, including two that have thrived for more than a decade. As the founding director of Vision2Venture, he is developing a cohort-based program that provides tailored education to address entrepreneurs' unique challenges. A certified Wendy Kennedy Inc. coach, Robert draws on over 20 years of experience in education to deliver practical, student-centered entrepreneurship programs that drive real-world results.

SBDC SPONSORS:

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