How do you tell the story of a company? 50 companies? 100?
For the Washington University Office of Technology Management (OTM), one way of sharing the story of WashU innovation is commemorating every WashU startup company with a custom logo sign affixed to the walls of OTM’s office lobby in the Cortex Innovation District.
The logo wall concept started shortly after OTM moved into their current offices at 4240 Duncan Avenue in December 2013. As new WashU startups incorporated, the OTM team added their logos to a chalkboard wall. In 2018, OTM organized the first “Welcome to the Wall” event, formally recognizing these new startups and their faculty founders.
Since then, “The Wall” has morphed from chalk renderings of company logos to dimensional signs representing close to 100 WashU startup companies. The last in-person Welcome to the Wall event took place in 2019. Now, after a few years of hiatus due to COVID, OTM is looking forward to bringing the event back in person by formally welcoming 14 new startups to the Wall this December.
The Wall is a physical representation of the talent, technologies, and groundbreaking research here at Washington University. And the Welcome to the Wall event provides the opportunity to recognize and celebrate the impact and commercial potential of our startup companies.
Nichole Mercier, PhD, assistant vice chancellor and managing director of the Office of Technology Management
OTM is anticipating the pending milestone of 100 WashU startup companies, all soon to be represented on the OTM wall. Mercier reflects on this watershed moment, “It’s exciting to close in on our first class of 100 WashU startups. These companies are truly a testament to the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship thriving here at Washington University.”
