Nexus invited Abhijit (Jit) Banerjee, UConn’s Associate Vice President of Research, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship, has extensive experience in industry, consulting, and university leadership. He specializes in research innovation, technology transfer, patent monetization, and strategic partnerships, with a focus on community impact. Passionate about inclusivity and talent development, he holds a Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology and an MBA from Suffolk University. The talk explored UConn’s economic impact, key startup fundamentals, and place-based innovation models, highlighting strategies for idea refinement, patent monetization, negotiation, and public-private partnerships. The workshop received 100% positive feedback from the participants. Nexus is grateful to Jit for bringing his extensive experience to startups, and we look forward to having him again.