Founders
Benjamin Kwitek, PhD
Benjamin Kwitek is the Director of Innovation at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. He leads the Innovation Program and teaches Entrepreneurship and Innovation classes. His favorite courses include Introduction to Entrepreneurship in the Bachelor of Innovation degree program and Managing Innovation for Strategic Advantage in the MBA program. He is also the inaugural Inventor-in-Residence at the Kraemer Family Library.
Benjamin has founded many companies including Gellyfish and InterForm. He has over 25 issued and pending US Patents. His inventions have been licensed by leading global corporations including Dell, Meta (Facebook), and Sony.
He has lectured on entrepreneurship and mentored startup companies in Egypt, Bahrain and The Netherlands for the Global Innovation through Science and Technology (GIST) Initiative with the US State Department.
Benjamin holds degrees and multiple honors from Colorado State University and the University of Colorado. In 2005, he completed his Ph.D. at Colorado State University where his research, entitled Driving Economic Development, looked at partnerships between colleges and high-tech businesses. He has further studied innovation and intellectual property at Harvard Business School in Boston.
He has appeared in BMW Magazine, Entrepreneur, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, Rhapsody, Robb Report, and newspapers across America. He enjoys performance car driving, mountain hiking, and tennis. He frequently travels throughout Europe and Asia looking for new investment opportunities.
Seth Porter
Dr. Seth M. Porter is the Dean of the Kraemer Family Library, Senior Executive Director of Innovation & Technology, Associate Professor, and Senior Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Government and the Individual (CSGI) at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS). He is a co-founder of the C3 Innovation Lab, where he leads efforts to enhance UCCS's innovation ecosystem, driving multidisciplinary collaboration across the university and the broader community. Dr. Porter’s leadership emphasizes operational excellence, strategic foresight and futurism, and the integration of advanced technologies to solve real-world problems.
Previously, Dr. Porter was the Assistant Dean of Digital Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship and Head of the Stokes Library & Data Viz Center for the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He holds a Doctorate in Public Administration from West Chester University, a Master of Arts in Public Affairs and Policy from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, a Master of Library and Information Science from San Jose State University, a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Wyoming, and multiple graduate certificates, including Project Management from Georgia State University, Business Operations from Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania, Finance from the University of Denver, Executive Leadership from Pepperdine University, and Strategic Foresight from The University of Houston.
Dr. Porter focuses on academic innovation and organizational performance while also excelling as a wine policy and business analyst. He specializes in emerging wine regions like Colorado, Wyoming, and New Jersey, addressing regulatory, environmental, and economic challenges. His research connects local agriculture, tourism, innovation clusters, and regional identity, offering insights on market entry, branding, and sustainability.
C3 Innovation Fund
Gifts to C3 Innovation help support initiatives for the C3 Innovation.
Contact and Learn More
If you'd like to learn more about the C3 Innovation and the exciting work happening, reach out to Ben Kwitek at bkwitek@uccs.edu or Seth Porter at sporter9@uccs.edu.