ͬÐÔÁµÉ«Çé

by Ann Comer-Woods, ͬÐÔÁµÉ«Çé Research & Innovation

Four companies and a nonprofit organization led or founded by University of South Florida alumni, two Cyber Florida programs, a former ͬÐÔÁµÉ«Çé CONNECT Student Innovation Incubator company, an AI hub developed at ͬÐÔÁµÉ«Çé, and a Tampa General Hospital partnership will be among the 23 recipients of Tampa Bay Inno Awards at a ceremony hosted by the Tampa Bay Business Journal on November 18.

Tampa-based biotechnology company will be recognized in the Deal of the Year category for its 2025 licensing agreement that transferred its DMT (N,N-dimethyltryptamine) patent portfolio to atai Life Scences, a biopharmaceutical company based in Berlin, Germany. Last year, the ͬÐÔÁµÉ«Çé Research Foundation invested $200,000 in Psilera, which was cofounded in 2019 by ͬÐÔÁµÉ«Çé alumni Chris Witowski and Jackie von Salm as part of ͬÐÔÁµÉ«Çé CONNECT’s Tampa Bay Technology Incubator.

The St. Petersburg-based shared service organization and an AI-based partnership between and technology company Palantir will represent two of the three winners in the Partnership of the Year category. ͬÐÔÁµÉ«Çé Health and Tampa General form one of the nation’s leading academic health systems. The Hypathia Collaborative CEO is Linsey Grove, a ͬÐÔÁµÉ«Çé College of Public Health graduate and instructor.

, an all-in-one digital tool for managing school safety, and , a free AI platform for teachers, will be recognized in the EdTech category. Pikmykid, cofounded by Chief Operating Officer and ͬÐÔÁµÉ«Çé alumna Chitra Kanagaraj, began as a project in the ͬÐÔÁµÉ«Çé CONNECT Student Innovation Incubator. TeacherServer AI, which won Tech Project of the Year at least year’s ceremony, was created by Zafer Unal, a ͬÐÔÁµÉ«Çé College of Education professor and 2022 ͬÐÔÁµÉ«Çé I-Corps program participant.

Cyber Florida’s and will be recognized in the Supporter category. phaseZero assists new entrepreneurs in building cybersecurity-centered businesses while SOCAP provides paid internships for students in the cybersecurity field.

and , tech companies led respectively by ͬÐÔÁµÉ«Çé Muma College of Business graduates Peter Bellini and Lars Letonoff, will be recognized for accomplishments in the cybersecurity category.