A successful creator and entrepreneur, Ms. Norwood is Cornell University 2022 Entrepreneur of the Year.
Entrepreneur, inventor, banker and soothsayer, Tiffany Norwood has been named to the board of directors of the Center for Intellectual Property Understanding.
Ms. Norwood is Founder and CEO of Tribetan, a company that teaches entrepreneurship and innovation literacy as a life skill and fosters the human science of success. She has presented her insights on 
narrative and creativity to the European Parliament, Yale University, the USPTO, KMPG and the South African Embassy.
“Innovation literacy is for everyone,” explains Ms Norwood. “Storytelling, collaboration, and a cultivated imagination are primary skills for learning the science of turning imagination into reality.”
At 27 she raised over $670 million dollars to fund a startup to build the first global digital radio platform and launch three satellites into space. The capital helped to establish XM Radio. As one the first successful black female tech entrepreneurs, Ms. Norwood’s career has spanned 52 countries, 30+ years and seven startups.
‘Innovation literacy is for everyone. Storytelling, collaboration, and a cultivated imagination are primary skills for learning the science of turning imagination into reality.”
“Entrepreneurs with Tiffany’s combination of business, creative and narrative skills are rare,” said Bruce Berman, CIPU co-founder and Chairman. “I speak for the board when I say it is a privilege to include her in our mission to make innovation and IP literacy a priority.”
Ms. Norwood established her first start-up as a teenager and was granted her first patent by the age of 23. Her ventures have ranged from the first one-strap backpack to the automation technology behind self-install kits for broadband internet and a virtual reality gaming platform. She also led some of the first digital content licensing deals, including those with Bloomberg News and CNN International. She was also an early collaborator with the Fraunhofer Institute on their MPEG technologies.
Previous Entrepreneur of the Year recipients have included Irwin Jacobs, founder and former CEO of Qualcomm and Sandy Weill, retired banker and philanthropist, who lead Citigroup. Ms. Norwood was the first black woman to receive the honor.
Ms. Norwood’s dream is for the science of turning imagination into reality to be as familiar as the curriculum for reading, writing, and mathematics. She received an MBA from Harvard and a Bachelor’s in Economics with a concentration in statistics and electrical engineering from Cornell.
The Center for Intellectual Property Understanding (CIPU) is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness about the impact of IP rights on individuals, business and society. CIPU provides outreach to improve IP literacy and promote sharing. Established in 2016, the Center holds events, such as the annual IP Awareness Summit®, creates content like the podcast series, ‘Understanding IP Matters’, curates the information portal, IPBasics.org and publishes summary reports. CIPU provides a context for discussion of topics impacted by IP, including global competition, Covid and diversity. www.understandingip.org.
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