Neil Kane

A leading authority on technology commercialization, entrepreneurship and innovation, Kane is an Assistant Teaching Professor and Director of Capstone Thesis Projects in the ESTEEM Graduate Program at the University of Notre Dame. He was the co-Executive Director of the Illinois Technology Enterprise Center at Argonne National Laboratory and is the founding CEO of several venture- and angel-backed companies based on university research. He has been an Innovation Corps (I-Corps) mentor and National Science Foundation (NSF) reviewer several times. He was the first Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Research Park at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Named a 2007 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum, he was recognized for Outstanding Entrepreneurship by the NSF and twice was an invited witness on technology transfer for the U.S. House of Representative's Subcommittee on Research & Science Education. He was appointed by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo to the National Advisory Council on Entrepreneurship & Innovation (2022). Earlier he was appointed by the governor of Illinois to the Illinois Innovation Council. He is an ambassador at Right to Start, a grassroots advocacy organization seeking to expand entrepreneurial opportunities for all. He is a Scout for Origin Ventures.