Emerson Launch Joins Alexa Innovation Fellowship

by Aakanksha Gupta

We are excited to announce that Emerson Launch will be a part of Amazon’s inaugural Alexa Innovation Fellowship! Housed at Emerson College — a premier school of communication and pioneer in oratory — we aim to play a significant role in a rapidly growing voice-first world.

The Alexa Innovation Fellowship strives to support the work of student entrepreneurs who are interested in voice technology. Sanjay Pothen, Emerson Launch director, is delighted to be an Innovation Fellow at Amazon. As our team leader, Sanjay is focused on fostering entrepreneurship and innovation at the intersection of arts, communication and technology. Prior to entering academia, he spent two decades working in management consulting, startups, and the advertising and technology industries.

“Emerson students have a special DNA, which is creativity and communication. I’m really excited to see what kind of ideas we are going to come up with as a community! I look forward to showcasing those to Amazon and the broader world,” said Pothen.

Emerson Launch aspires to reach the community in three stages: inform, integrate and inspire. We will inform through our Voice Lab, workshops and hackathons. We will integrate voice into the campus through Emerson Em and other Alexa skills. We will inspire by supporting rising student voice innovators and entrepreneurs through our two program tracks during the school year — all overseen by the Alexa Innovation Fellow, Sanjay Pothen. The Entrepreneur track is dedicated to students who want a traditional entrepreneurial experience that teaches them how to take their ideas from seed to fruition. The Innovator track is aimed at students who want to explore technology innovation in areas such as voice. The two program tracks will culminate in an Innovators Week at the end of the Spring 2019 semester.

Thanks for reading! To learn more about our partnership with Amazon, take a look at their blog post.