ICYMI: CoMotion Labs Summer Social

The sun peaked out from behind the clouds last week as CoMotion Labs members, friends, and staff gathered on a breezy rooftop in the University District for fellowship and fun.

The annual CoMotion Labs summer social, on August 22, drew a crowd of about 90, representing all three of its incubators (tech+, hardware, and life sciences). Attendees enjoyed food, festive frozen beverages, an ice cream cart, and a photobooth—and the opportunity to network and socialize in person.

Rao Talasila, head of machine learning at Wayfinder Biosciences, has been a member of the life sciences incubator at Fluke Hall for two and a half years. “Working on UW’s campus makes me feel young,” he says with a laugh. “It’s the energy of the intellectual environment and events like these that bring us together as a community.”

Emily Power, founder of Ocean Made, has been a CoMotion Labs member for less than a month but she’s already making connections. “One of the reasons I joined is access to resources you thought maybe you’d have to pay for,” she says. “I was stuck on intellectual property law, for example, and I serendipitously ended up sitting next to someone who answered so many of my questions. You never know who you’re going to run into and it could be a valuable connection.”

The event was sponsored by the Urban Renaissance Group and hosted by Chapter Buildings, a new two-building office complex on Brooklyn Avenue between 45^th and 47^th streets.