NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

For more information contact:
Preena Patel, Public Relations and Journalism Intern at the Technology Entrepreneur Center,
350 Coordinated Science Laboratory, 1308 W. Main Street, Urbana, Illinois 61801 pkpatel4@illinois.edu

Technology Entrepreneur Center hosts first SocialFuse event of the year

On September 9, 2014, the Technology Entrepreneur Center (TEC) hosted their first SocialFuse event of
the year in Loomis Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. SocialFuse is an event
hosted by TEC throughout the academic year for students who are interested in engineering, business,
computer science, or innovation start-up companies.
At SocialFuse, students pitched their start-up company ideas to a room of innovators, hoping to increase
their team size by the end of the evening. A networking event followed the pitches. Because no one can
run a company on their own, SocialFuse brings together students with different skill sets but the same
passion for entrepreneurship to create a cross-functional team.
Students bring a range of expertise in such disciplines as marketing, product development, design, and
accounting. All majors are welcome to attend SocialFuse. During the event, a room of nearly 180
attendees waited to hear over 20 pitches with the hopes of creating diverse teams with a variety of skill
sets.
SocialFuse attendee Brandon Rice stated, SocialFuse is a great way to network and bond with people
over things you like, as well as find people who are interested in your product or brand. I also think it's
nice to see other people who share your passion.
If you are interested in pitching or attending, TEC will host the next SocialFuse on October 1, 2014. Visit
tec.illinois.edu to register or for more information about SocialFuse.
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About the Technology Entrepreneur Center
Since 2000, the Technology Entrepreneur Centers (TEC) mission has been to inspire its students to
become the next generation of world-changing visionaries, leaders and entrepreneurs. This is
accomplished through its courses, product competitions, workshops and other curricular and extracurricular events that expose students to the concepts of technology innovation and market adoption.