IEEE Entrepreneurship 101 Argentina Workshop

Photo: From left to right – Prof. Newton Frateschi (UniCamp), Dr. Daniel Renner (Atacama O & E), Prof. Andrea Bragas (UBA), Dr. Veronica Garea (Latitud 40S), Dr. Surya Raghu (ETCube International) and Dr. Nicolas Tognalli (CITES) (Photo courtesy of EEOF TOPFOT 2026)

The IEEE Entrepreneurship 101 Argentina Workshop was conducted from 13-15 May 2026 at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), Argentina. The main organizations involved were UBA, CITES (venture capital company in Argentina) and IEEE Entrepreneurship.

The process began back in February, when 13 groups made up of senior undergraduates, graduate students and young researchers, presented their Innovative ideas using optics and photonics that addressed critical market and social needs. The participants received on-line training in several sessions over two months provided by Fernando Héctor Molinari of CITES, Daniel Renner and Surya Raghu of IEEE Entrepreneurship to develop road to market business plans for their ideas.

In the first round, 11 teams submitted their business plans for innovative solutions to market needs using ideas from optics and photonics. Then, an international jury selected 6 finalists who were provided with further feedback to improve their business plans to pitch on 13 May to a panel of 5 judges (Prof. Newton Frateschi (UniCamp), Dr. Daniel Renner (Atacama O & E / IEEE Entrepreneurship), Dr. Veronica Garea (Latitud 40S), Dr. Surya Raghu (ETCube International / IEEE Entrepreneurship) and Dr. Nicolas Tognalli (CITES).

During this final pitch, Teams Skopia and RePIC Photonics were selected as the winner and runner-up for the prizes. The other finalists in this tough competition were MOM, Lithography-on-demand, OnChip Spectroscopy and BiCodeBar, who presented pitches of an excellent level, appropriate for the pre-seed stage.

After Day 1, all participants (including teams 7-11) and additional registrants received further coaching on soft skills, IP, and negotiating skills. The total number of registrants to the workshop was 141.

TOPFOT 2026 also featured a large number of talks and panels on the photonic industry, entrepreneurship, innovation and transfer, with the participation of researchers, managers, officials, political scientists, economists, entrepreneurs and students. Dr. Daniel Renner (IEEE Entrepreneurship), Prof. Newton Frateschi (UniCAMP, Brazil), Dr. Surya Raghu (IEEE Entrepreneurship), Dra. Elisa Herrera (Ministry of Defense, Argentina), Dr. Juliano Oliveira (HWIT, Brazil) provided different aspects of innovation, entrepreneurship and the ecosystems that stimulate this culture, while Day 3 had a strong local flavor with very interesting discussion about the needs for innovation and entrepreneurship to address Argentina’s needs.

The workshop was very successful in stimulating awareness and the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship to address Argentina’s needs as well as scale-up possibilities to extend such solutions to LATAM and global markets. The number of ecosystem players participating in the workshop made it even more conducive to have a meaningful dialogue of policy, cultural and financial needs to stimulate an ecosystem of entrepreneurship in Argentina.