Series 8: Exploring the Puerto Rico Startup Ecosystem Episode 177. Meet Jahannnie Torres-Rodriguez, The Engineer & Entrepreneur Creating Technology with Purpose

RareBirds Emerging Markets Podcast

Jahannie Torres-Rodriguez has a background in computer engineering and business development from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus, where she was a first-generation college student. She has over five years of experience developing Innovation and Entrepreneurship ecosystems through the Mayagüez Business and Economic Development Center and the UPRM E-ship Network. Stanford University selected her to join the University Innovation Fellows program and become a change agent in higher education. Recently, the World Economic Forum recognized her as a Global Shaper.

Jahannie is a co-founder of EPIC Makerspace (the first makerspace in her institution), Tech Blast Conference (to expose STEM students to emerging technologies that were not offered in courses), Solidarity Scholarship (to help students from disadvantaged communities, like her community) and Edvo Tech(a professional development company for teachers). She currently works as a Business Development Specialist at Colmena66, a program of the Puerto Rico Trust for Science, Technology and Research. There, her main responsibilities are to coordinate award-winning strategies to increase technology commercialization through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs and design, planning and executing data strategies to measure and monitor the local entrepreneurial ecosystem. After developing high impact projects, and working in several industries and research projects, she realized that her passion lies in combining technology, entrepreneurship, and education to create a better society