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Activate is a nonprofit organization that empowers scientists to transform their research into market-ready products and services through a two-year fellowship that provides funding, mentorship and access to a robust network of experts and resources. 

Activate’s 62 new fellows drive meaningful change toward a sustainable and equitable society. With fellows from 50 companies, Cohort 2024 is their largest yet. Selected from over 1,000 applicants, this new class of fellows is pioneering some of today’s most promising innovations across critical sectors, including energy, transportation, manufacturing, agriculture and national security. During the fellowship, new fellows will turn their breakthroughs into businesses and transform into high-impact science entrepreneurs.

“People, not ideas alone, move the world forward. It is through the drive and determination of brilliant scientists and engineers that we are witnessing true progress,” says Cyrus Wadiam, CEO of Activate. “Our current Activate Fellows and alumni are already pioneering innovative solutions that make a measurable difference. We’re thrilled to support the next 62 visionaries who will lead the charge in addressing our most urgent issues through groundbreaking science and technology.”

CU Boulder Fellows in Activate Anywhere

Recognizing that talent exists in every part of the United States, Activate Anywhere is a virtual community of connected but not co-located fellows. Fellows work in their local innovation ecosystem and are plugged into Activate’s mentorship, education and community network. Three Cohort 2024 fellows join Activate from companies spun up at CU Boulder with Venture Partners at CU Boulder.

The 12 new fellows joining the Activate Anywhere Community are in ten U.S. cities, including Denver, CO; Raleigh, NC; Baltimore, MD; and Milwaukee, WI. These fellows are developing solutions in several fields: including water purification, quantum networks, fast diagnostics, quantum-inspired computing, “forever chemicals” degradation, toxins detection, 3D printing, methane elimination, vacuum-insulated glass windows that are as insulating as walls and “bearingless” electric motors that could improve their efficiency to over 90 percent.

Vitro3D

Activate Cohort 2024 Fellows

Camila Uzcategui is the co-founder and CEO of Vitro3D. She earned her PhD in materials science and engineering from CU Boulder, and has a BS in physics and a BA in anthropology from Florida International University. With over eight years of experience in light-based additive manufacturing, Uzcategui brings extensive expertise in applying advanced technologies to the industry. She advocates for technology entrepreneurship with a social lens to create sustainable solutions.

Johnny Hergert is the co-founder and CTO of Vitro3D. While obtaining his BS in chemistry from Oregon State, Hergert built his first 3D printer and has been studying and innovating in the additive industry for ten years. He started Vitro3D with his co-founder while finishing a PhD at CU Boulder.

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Vitro3D is reimagining the future of manufacturing with its advanced volumetric technology, enabling rapid, high-quality production of complex parts. This sustainable approach surpasses traditional methods, empowering industries to tackle existing challenges and unlock new opportunities that were previously impossible.

Existing technologies limit manufacturers across high-value industries in efficiently producing complex polymer parts. Methods like injection molding and 3D printing fall short of providing a cost-effective, high-quality solution for producing high-resolution parts at varying scales of production. Injection molding isn't economical for small batches and struggles with complex geometries, while 3D printing is often limited to lower-performance materials unsuitable for mass production. For example, the next generation of products faces critical manufacturing roadblocks in the electronic connectors and components industry due to these limitations in resolution, speed and material flexibility.

Vitro3D is introducing a new 3D fabrication technology that significantly speeds up production and enables the creation of complex shapes that are impossible with current manufacturing techniques. Vitro3D’s approach uses an optical toolhead to enable layerless, volumetric parts fabrication directly onto manufacturing lines. This streamlines production by eliminating support structures that other additive methods require, allowing hybrid components without assembly and offering an unlimited build area. This pioneering approach in polymer structuring accelerates part fabrication by a factor of 100 compared to 3D printing methods, and it can create complex geometries unachievable with injection molding.

Vitro3D's innovation will dramatically enhance society by enabling the on-site and on-demand production of critical parts in high-value industries using a wider range of sustainable materials when fully implemented. This disruptive manufacturing technology will foster innovation in various industries, including electronics, personalized medicine and regenerative tissue creation, reaching previously inaccessible locations with its low-cost, modular system. By improving the accessibility and quality of products for a broad spectrum of populations, Vitro3D aims to significantly enhance the quality of life globally, moving from solving complex industrial challenges to making a profound societal impact.

   Read more about Vitro3D's journey at CU Boulder here

Icarus Quantum

Activate Cohort 2024 Fellow

Poolad Imany is an expert in quantum photonics and quantum networking with 11 years of experience. He received his PhD in electrical and computer engineering from Purdue University, researching chip-scale quantum optics. Since then, he has been a postdoctoral associate at the , building efficient and scalable quantum light sources. At NIST, he founded Icarus Quantum to commercialize NIST’s quantum dot technology and enable scalable quantum networking.​

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As quantum computers become more powerful, they can penetrate all encryption methods currently used for communications. To protect communication channels against this threat, using quantum light to distribute encryption provides the only provably secure solution. These quantum networks also enable connecting quantum computers, unlocking their exponential processing power for drug discoveries and optimization algorithms. Icarus Quantum is developing the first efficient quantum light source to enable scalable quantum networking. Icarus' devices will plug into the existing optical fiber networks, bringing a quantum internet one step closer to the general public.

Icarus Quantum is not just about innovation but also about reliability. The company is developing the first commercial deterministic generator of entangled photons, the backbone of quantum networks. Unlike other sources that rely on probabilistic processes and can only achieve a maximum efficiency of one percent, our quantum dots can boost this process to over 70 percent. This significant leap in efficiency ensures the reliability needed for scaling quantum networks to longer ranges, instilling confidence in the future of quantum technologies.