Matt Shumer
Matt Shumer ’22, founder of Visos, has been selected to showcase his innovative enterprise virtual reality system in several national events this spring. Shumer, who is a student in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, is a Rubin Family Innovation Mentor at the Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars at Syracuse University Libraries.
For the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Jan. 7-8, Shumer was one of a small group of startups chosen by the global Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars 24-campus network to present his innovation on the Techstars Startup Stage as part of their “Student Startup Showdown.” CES 2020 will feature two days of exclusive programming, including in-depth panels and pitch competitions that invite the next generation of startups to battle it out on the future of robotics and hardware, sports and entertainment.
Syracuse University LaunchPad and Techstars alumnus Josh Aviv ’15 G’17, founder and CEO of SparkCharge, will also be speaking at CES on the Techstars Startup Stage. Aviv will be part of the “University Leadership Panel” discussing how universities can work with startups to become more entrepreneurial by engaging and activating students in innovation. The panel will also include Courtney Gras, LaunchPad Director, Techstars; Erica Lock, Vice President, Blackstone Charitable Foundation; and Jason Thompson, VP of Inclusion and Diversity, Techstars. Aviv launched his ultra-fast, portable electric vehicle charging unit at last year’s CES event and is now ramping up production. He will be sharing best practices and insight about ecosystem support and resources that student innovators need to succeed.
For the Arizona State University (ASU) Innovation Open on Jan. 31 in Tempe, Arizona, Shumer was selected to compete in the 2020 ASU Innovation Open, a $200,000 competition designed to challenge and advance university student innovators who are launching a hardware enterprise within a wide variety of cutting-edge marketplaces, such as the internet of things.
On April 24-25, in Fort Worth, Texas, Shumer will be representing Syracuse University at the Texas Christian University (TCU) Richards Barrentine Values and Ventures Competition, sponsored by the TCU Neeley Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The competition features more than $200,000 in prize funding to top student entrepreneurs from around the country. The Whitman School of Management is providing funding to send him to both the ASU and TCU national competitions.
