FC Cincinnati’s Jeff Berding to speak on sports innovation at UC 1819 Hub
Sports design takes the spotlight at annual Founders + Funders summit
Innovation will take center stage on Oct. 24 at the University of Cincinnati's 1819 Innovation Hub during the Founders+Funders 2025 Summit, a high-energy event connecting founders, investors and thought leaders driving the future.
Headlining the summit as keynote speaker is Jeff Berding, president and co-CEO of FC Cincinnati, who will share insights on starting a soccer club, developing a team culture and kick-starting vast community impact. He’ll be returning to where the team began in 2015 before it was a Major League Soccer franchise: UC’s campus.
The Founders+Funders Summit connects every facet of entrepreneurship, bringing together innovators, investors and academic partners to advance collaboration between industry and academia. This year’s focus is on sports design innovation, with an impressive lineup that includes UC alumni and two Bearcats for Life: Geoff Baldwin, founder of Win Win Athletics, and Bruce Miller, chairman and CEO of Populous.
Where purpose meets possiblilty
Phil Collins, former UC board chair and founder of Orchard Holdings Group. Photo/Andrew Higley
Founders+Funders is not a typical conference. The summit buzzes with energy each year as investors and innovators step away from the podium to connect directly with attendees, share stories, answer questions and dive into honest conversations about growth, risk and what it really takes to innovate.
Attendees will take part in hands-on sessions designed to spark meaningful conversation and collaboration. Moderators include Phil Collins, former UC board chair and founder of Orchard Holdings Group; Stephanie Pilat, dean of the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning; Kate Harmon, assistant vice president of UC’s Office of Innovation and director of the UC Center for Entrepreneurship; and John Cunningham, athletic director of UC Athletics. Entrepreneurs will share their success stories and roadblocks along the way, while investors and funders contribute directly through strategic feedback and insights learned from past ventures. There’s been strong interest from students in the Carl H. Lindner College of Business and UC’s Center for Entrepreneurship.
The summit underscores UC’s ongoing commitment to cultivating an entrepreneurial ecosystem that reaches far beyond campus. Through the 1819 Innovation Hub’s Venture Lab, aspiring founders can access three accelerator programs designed to take ideas from concept to launch. Meanwhile, the UC Ground Floor Makerspace, a 12,000-square-foot facility equipped with CNC machines, waterjet cutters, 3D printers and more, serves as an invaluable resource for both students developing capstone projects and entrepreneurs prototyping their next big innovation.
By connecting faculty, students, alumni and regional partners, the university is strengthening Ohio’s talent pipeline and economic competitiveness.
Last year's Founders+Funders event with former Bearcat, Chris Wanstrath, founder of GitHub. Photo/Greg Glevicky.
Fueling Ohio's innovation
The Founders+Funders Summit also celebrates peer-to-peer knowledge exchange, offering a forum where academic researchers and student founders like the leaders of Motiv, an all-in-one sports app, can explore their next steps and meet seasoned entrepreneurs, alumni founders and active investors. This mix of participants, each at a different stage in their entrepreneurial journey, creates fertile ground for collaboration and discovery.
Sessions throughout the day will include panel discussions and networking opportunities that highlight both challenges and potential in the startup space. Panelists will examine the range of roles within emerging companies, explore investment strategies and discuss the evolving landscape of innovation in the post-pandemic economy.
UC’s 1819 Innovation Hub has earned a reputation as a successful startup accelerator and a vital connector for industry partners and investors eager to accelerate UC-affiliated ventures. As the engine behind the Cincinnati Innovation District, 1819 continues to attract founders who seek not only funding but also mentorship, research partnerships and access to UC’s wealth of science, technology, engineering, math and medicine (STEMM) expertise.
The event’s spirit is as much about community as it is about capital, recognizing that sustainable innovation thrives where people, ideas and opportunity intersect.
As Ohio continues to attract new talent and investment, the UC 1819 Founders+Funders Summit stands as a testament to the region’s evolving entrepreneurial identity: collaborative, connected and relentlessly forward-looking.
Learn more about the Founders+Funders 2025 Summit here and sign up today.
Featured image at top: Jeff Berding, president and co-CEO of FC Cincinnati, will headline the Founders+Funders 2025 Summit on Oct. 24 at UC's 1819 Innovation Hub. Photo/FC Cincinnati
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