Daniel Goetzel

Senior Consultant, Urban Impact Advisors

Biography

Over the past three years, Daniel Goetzel served as the Director of Strategic Partnerships for the National Science Foundation’s Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) Directorate and as the Entrepreneurial Lead for the National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engines Program. The TIP Directorate and its signature initiative NSFEngines, were created as part of the CHIPS and Science Act. Daniel joined the TIP launch team even before the legislation’s passage and was instrumental in the stand up of the new Directorate and its flagship programs.

Upon joining government, Daniel served as the first-ever Entrepreneurial Lead for the NSF Engines Program, a bold new initiative focused on expanding the U.S. geography of innovation, providing regions up to $160M over 10 years to build their entrepreneurial ecosystems. He advised and mentored regional economic engagement strategy, oversaw the selection of $160M awardees, and conceptualized a novel government-supported innovation hub, known as the Builder Platform, which is designed to help public and private capital work together. Daniel also led TIP’s partnership strategies, helped launch the new Pathways to Entrepreneurship Program, was responsible for the NSF’s $50M Partnership Expansion Program of the Accelerating Research Translation (ART) program, Responsible Design, Development and Deployment of Technologies Program (co-funded by 5 philanthropic funders), and organized three of the largest capital convenings in the history of NSF spanning philanthropy, corporate partners, impact investors, and fellow government agencies.

While at NSF, Daniel was loaned to the U.S. Department of Commerce for 1.5 years to stand up their CHIPS Innovation Funding office. In this role, a $500M investment fund which supports the nation’s domestic semi-conductor industry, Daniel was part of the team that built the office and led the development of a White House partnership strategy across agencies and regional Tech Hubs consortia.

Previously, Daniel led Columbia University’s corporate partnerships and startup ecosystem building efforts, including leading Cyber NYC, a $100 M public-private partnership with the New York City Economic Development Corporation, Jerusalem Venture Partners, NYU, Cornell Tech, CUNY, and Goldman Sachs. He ran a multi-million-dollar startup accelerator that was a partnership between Columbia, Cornell Tech, NYU, and the City University of New York.  He also led an internal management consulting team at the university focused on re-imagining the university’s corporate relations effort, resulting in the creation of a new 5-person Industry Relations office.

Prior to that, Daniel was the inaugural Director of Innovation at Johns Hopkins University, heading up their economic development, corporate partnerships, and venture philanthropy efforts.

Daniel started his career in politics, working in senior roles fora Governor, Senator, and as employee #2 on a presidential campaign. Daniel received his BA from Emory University and MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School.  

Currently, Daniel serves as a Practitioner-In-Residence at Harvard’s Reimagining the Economy project, an advisor to Stanford’s High Impact Technology Fund, Georgetown’s Tech Commercialization Board, and Station DC, a deep tech startup effort in Washington, DC.

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