VuEssence’s Post

Transcript

Let me talk a little bit about what the impact that we have. You know, you talk about economic impact all the time. I was on the Super Bowl task force on the host committee some years ago. I was the vice chair and I remember how hard we work to get the Super Bowl to come here. Why? Because it has an economic impact that was significant and we wanted to have that for our community. Well, guess what? The University of South Florida has an economic impact of over $6 billion every year, and that is the equivalent of 10 to 15 Super Bowls every year. That is worth clapping about, isn't it? I mean that's pretty exciting when you think you have that right here in your midst and all the things that we're doing with that. Another thing that we're doing and that I'm so very proud of is for the last 11 years we have been in the top 15 of providing patents. Creating new knowledge for the last 11 years. This is in the country our University of South Florida is creating new knowledge, is preparing for the future, is solving challenges. And just to give an example, we all remember COVID, right? And the the first big thing we noticed about COVID is we weren't at the office. The second thing we noticed is there was a terrible glut on toilet paper. And the third thing we notice. Because you couldn't even go and get tested for COVID because we didn't have enough of the little test swabs. Remember that? Well, the University of South Florida jumped to the forefront in that we came up with a design for a. A test swab that could be done by 3D printing. We patented it. We put it into the public realm. We have had over 150 million of those test swabs utilized around the globe and we did it because it was for the betterment of the health of our world. I'll give you another example. Right upstairs we have US Essence and they have actually worked on a stroke detection device that will determine if in fact you've had a stroke and more importantly when you had the stroke. I don't know if you all have had experiences with that, but that is absolutely. One of the most horrible things when you know somebody has something wrong but you can't quite figure out what it is. And sometimes it takes weeks or months. And my husband's case, it was almost a year later when they said, yeah, you did have a stroke. Well, it's a little late to be trying to fix it at that point. This device will determine it within an hour. So imagine that. And they're working on it right upstairs. I just had the pleasure of meeting with them. Very, very exciting technology. And another one that was just in the newspaper last week. We have a professor that's working with one of his alumni. On approval process to look around corners. Or to look beyond obstacles that might be in front of you, just think about the benefits of having something like that for your police force to understand what the dangers are before they actually step into it. These are all things that are being created right here in our community. It's very, very exciting. We also are a place to help economic development, our economic development organizations when a new company wants to come to the Tampa Bay area. One of the first places that come to see is USF. Why? Because we have the workforce. We have the connection with professors, we have the connection with those that are doing research. We can help them solve problems. They wanna know what kind of relationship that they can have with us. And I can tell you that Rapid 7, which is a publicly traded company out of Boston, came down here and they had a whole bunch of people on their list. But they came to see us and they're here with us now and they're doing a lot with our students and they're helping them. Define the careers of their choice moving forward. We also really focus on instilling an entrepreneurial spirit in our students. We want our students to really think about taking those risks and being able to push the envelope to the next level. Through our Nault Center for Entrepreneurship, we have opened over 300 businesses in the last decade. This is because they see the opportunities and we're creating new things. Yes, we are. And so. If you want to start or grow your business, we have USF Connect. We have incubators and accelerators. We bring together founders and CEO's from many, many different companies. They come and they speak with our individuals. Upstairs you'll have about 8 examples from CEO Connect. I hope you'll go and do that. I think they're cheering for us. What do you think? And we have a Fintech accelerator program with the Muma College of Business and the Tampa Bay Wave. Say hi, Linda. You know that is a intensive 90 day program for entrepreneurs from around the globe and we're making a difference. We're making a difference every day and our fintech centers coming out with new certificates, certificates that are stackable so that you can achieve higher levels. Of education. And the final thing, final thing I want to talk to you about, which I'm really, really proud of, is our new emphasis on partnerships. I mean, we've always had partnerships with our community, with our businesses and industries, but we're doubling down on that. We now understand that that's the secret sauce. That's how we're going to give the experiential learning opportunities to our students. That's how we're going to give them internships and scholarships and that's how we're going to make those connections moving forward. We have an office of University Community partners. It is a one stop shop. Eric Eisenberg who's wandering around here somewhere is the front door there. He is right back there. And so if in fact you are interested in doing something with the University of South Florida, we have a whole group back there in the Ashley Lounge. I would encourage you to go back there and talk with them and talk about what kind of connections you can have. You know, people tell me all the time. Well, you know, I really love talking to USF, but I went to the University of Michigan and I say, you know, that's great. I am so glad that you did. I'm glad you had the experience you had, the tenacity to finish your educational process. But the truth is, if you are in the Tampa Bay area, if you are in Florida, USF is your university. We have the workforce for you. We have. The educational opportunities for you. We have everything you need to support your business, to support your students, to give everybody a better life. Because together we are better, we are bolder and we are healthier here in this community. So with that, I say thank you for allowing me to be here, come and visit us in the lounge back there, talk to our folks up here around and really have a great day. Thank you. Don't know.