Faculty Profile Sascha Eder

NewtonX, an artificial intelligence-powered knowledge search engine that matches clients to the world’s leading investors, consultants, and technology experts, wanted to open an office in New York City. Sascha Eder, the co-founder and operations manager of the company, found everything it needed at the Queens College Tech Incubator.

As a member of the incubator, Eder has access to college facilities and to QC’s biggest asset—its people. “Queens College students and faculty are a great resource for us,” he says, “whether it’s talent in software engineering or a business professor’s expertise.” In turn, he has involved himself deeply in campus and community life.

The mutually beneficial relationship between Queens College and Eder, a German native, results from the International Innovators Initiative (IN2NYC). Inaugurated in 2016 by the New York City Economic Development Corporation in collaboration with several CUNY colleges, IN2NYC is designed to attract foreign-born entrepreneurs to our city. Applicants who meet the qualifications receive the coveted cap-exempt H-1B visa to work in the United States while building their businesses in tech incubators at participating CUNY campuses and New York University. Additionally, IN2NYC participants serve as mentors to students, create internships and job opportunities, and contribute to academic research and curricula.

“When we established our tech incubator in 2016, we had in mind a rich partnership between tech-focused entrepreneurs, our students, faculty, and staff and the borough,” says Queens College President Félix Matos Rodriguez. “Having Sascha with us thanks to IN2NYC is exactly the kind of knowledge-sharing collaboration we anticipated.”
After undergraduate studies at the University of Mannheim and the University Carlos III of Madrid, Eder earned a master’s degree at the HEC School of Management in Paris. At 23, he moved to the United States to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, completing his second master’s degree, in entrepreneurship and technological innovation.

At QC, Eder launched a lecture series in which he discusses artificial intelligence and other technology subjects. These no-cost, one-hour events are open to students and the larger community. Eder also held a full-day weekend workshop focusing on the steps needed to succeed as an entrepreneur. [To receive notifications of upcoming events, visit https://techincubatorqc.com, scroll down to “Subscribe to Our Mailing List,” and fill out the online form.]

Using a unique algorithm, Eder is now discovering pertinent information about QC alumni that is being shared with the college’s Alumni Office and Center for Career Engagement and Internships. “We’ve been looking at the data on recent graduates,” Eder said. “What kinds of jobs are they getting? Where are they working geographically? What’s the correlation with their major?”

For Media Studies Professor Douglas Rushkoff’s Tech Development Lab class, Eder gave a talk, provided feedback on the students’ work, and was a judge for their final presentations. In December, he joined the jury for the Tech Incubator’s first “Pitch Fest,” a competition awarding cash prizes to budding entrepreneurs who proposed the best ideas for tech-enabled products or services.

“I’m excited to be here,” says Eder. “I enjoy mentoring and teaching students and helping them to become the next generation of entrepreneurs,” he says. “They will come up with the ideas that will at some point change the way we do things.”