One of the largest cohorts ever – 33 student teams – will compete November 11 for $15,000 in prizes in this year’s Syracuse LaunchPad’s Impact Prize. The event, designed to catalyze social impact entrepreneurship, will be held in Bird Library from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and will feature student startups from across all majors who applied to compete. It is open to members of the campus community who want to attend and observe students presenting business models for products, projects, services, or technologies that are practical, innovative, and sustainable solutions to societal problems anywhere around the globe. Students from 134 countries are part of the LaunchPad.
The event opens with a 2 p.m. welcome by David Seaman, Dean of Syracuse University Libraries in Peter Graham Scholarly Commons, Room 114, Bird Library. Following remarks, students will pitch in this tentative order:
| Room One – Bird 004 | ||
| Time | Team Captain | Team Name |
| 2:20 | Ben Ford | Fundwurx |
| 2:30 | Zirui Wang | Public Opinion |
| 2:40 | Payton Dunn | Absurdist |
| 2:50 | Adya Parida and Oliver Raycroft | Scale Sense |
| 3:00 | Bowen MacLennan | UVT |
| 3:10 | Siraj Dahal | Private Route Aggregator |
| 3:20 | Nicolas Courbage | Receipts |
| 3:30 | Jeremy Shinder | Jere Bear Films |
| Room Two – Bird 606 | ||
| 2:20 | Jared Anderson | The Emergency Preparedness Project |
| 2:30 | Ud Joseph | Mentorship for Young Immigrants |
| 2:40 | Cem Taviloglu | Vanir Meads |
| 2:50 | Sajjad Al-Hashami | Eye-N |
| 3:00 | Manya Gadhok (virtual) | Period. |
| 3:10 | Dylan Palmer and Alan Jos | Citron Solutions |
| 3:20 | Mauricio Luna | Luna College Consulting |
| 3:30 | Noah Mechnig-Giordano | Happy Loose Leaf Tea |
| Room Three – Bird 608 | ||
| Time | Presenter Name | Team Name |
| 2:20 | Lexi Cianfarani | ClubMATCH |
| 2:30 | Ryan Peters | Polititag |
| 2:40 | Sai Krishna Bolla | TelMeNot |
| 2:50 | Frank Marin | Marhold Space Systems |
| 3:00 | Katy Arons | Continual |
| 3:10 | Natasha Abrol | Art X Ecology |
| 3:20 | Claire Chevalier | CMC |
| 3:30 | Frederick Pollard | Oasis |
| 3:40 | Motolani Oladitan | E-vend |
| Room Four – Bird 120 | ||
| 2:20 | Emma Lueders | Moody Mag |
| 2:30 | Eric Hong and Franky Zhang | Scout |
| 2:40 | Brandon Henry | Beyond the Box |
| 2:50 | Drew Bartelstein | Purescan |
| 3:00 | Cherry Kim | Conformabelt |
| 3:10 | Ian Storrs | ConCurrent |
| 3:20 | Anand Benegal | Spatika: 4D News |
| 3:30 | Ethan Tyo | The AlterNative Project |
| Final Round – Bird 004 | ||
| 4:00 | Winner of Room One | |
| 4:05 | Winner of Room One | |
| 4:10 | Winner of Room Two | |
| 4:15 | Winner of Room Two | |
| 4:20 | Winner of Room Three | |
| 4:25 | Winner of Room Three | |
| 4:30 | Winner of Room Four | |
| 4:35 | Winner of Room Four |
Judges will announce the winners at 5 p.m. during a closing reception at the LaunchPad.
Examples of impact ventures include business models or projects around:
- Agriculture
- Arts and culture
- Community revitalization
- Disability and accessibility
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion
- Employment and training
- Energy and climate change
- Environmental sustainability
- Food access and nutrition
- Health and mental health
- Historic preservation
- Literacy and education
- Poverty
- Sustainability
- Transportation and mobility
- Underserved populations
- Youth leadership and empowerment
- Other public policy challenges
This year’s competition is supported through a $15,000 gift from SU Libraries Advisory Board Member Carl Armani and his wife Marcy, in honor of Linda Dickerson-Hartsock, retiring LaunchPad executive director, who created the Impact Prize. This is the sixth annual competition, designed to help see the greater good and make a difference in the lives of people around them. Social impact is a mission that Linda personally and professionally championed through her career and at the LaunchPad.
The Impact Prize is also a gateway to spring competitions like the ACC InVenture Prize, RvD iPrize, Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award and the Panasci Business Plan Competition.