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Zachary Suh, a marketing major in the Costello College of Business and member of the Honors College at 91����, founded HomePlate,a meal service for seniors, in his sophomore year.

91���� has become Virginia’s first R1 research institution to commercialize a product under the state’s new Lab-to-Launch initiative, marking an early milestone in the commonwealth’s push to accelerate university research into the market. 

Michael J. A. Davis, BA Integrative Studies ’09, roasts coffee using the time-honored pan-roasting tradition of beans tumbling in a pan as the smoke rises like incense. What once fueled his long workdays eventually became his antidote to corporate burnout. In fall of 2024, he brought that transformation back to 91���� in a bag labeled “Brave & Bold.”

For the 91���� alumni founders of SOSS Bros, it wasn’t necessarily love at first sight—but it was lunch.

While a student at Costello, Jheen Oh's passion for business blossomed. Coming from a health-conscious family, Oh, with the help of his father, launched Susosu Water, the only naturally sourced mineral water from a 600-foot underground source in South Korea, infused with extra hydrogen for a much healthier hydration.

At 91����, innovation isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a culture. One of the campus spaces championing this culture is the Mason Innovation Exchange (MIX), a hub where creativity and entrepreneurship intersect.

As Korea and the United States deepen their cooperation in technology and entrepreneurship, Mason Korea has opened a Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) in Songdo. This center is the global extension of the center of the same name at the Costello College of Business in Fairfax.

This month, a new Northern Virginia International Soft-Landing Accelerator (NISA) program, designed to help start-ups from around the globe find guidance, connections, and lab or office spaces at no cost, was launched to help develop new technologies in life sciences.

The Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Accelerator (CCI+A) program is a jam-packed, five-month innovation program that’s fueling cybersecurity entrepreneurship across Virginia. It’s teaching professors and start-ups what it takes to bring technology to market, including how to pitch to a panel of investors and industry leaders.

TJ Master and Elizabeth Pyle, mentors with the Virginia Small Business Development Center’s (SBDC) Innovation Commercialization Assistance Program (ICAP), are advising entrepreneurs in the Innovation District.