We’re less than one month away from one of the most exciting events of the year. The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is on a talent search for top student innovators. Teams from Syracuse University are invited to apply to the InVenture Prize 2020, a televised “Shark Tank”-style competition open to student startups at the 15 colleges and universities that are part of the ACC Academic Consortium. Applications are open through February 7, and require a one page executive summary of a venture idea. The Syracuse University campus qualifier will be held on February 21, with the winner receiving a $5,000 cash prize sponsored by M&T Bank, and an all expense paid trip to be part of a live PBS-televised event in April 2020 at NC State University in Raleigh. The competition is open to undergraduate students or recent graduates of ACC universities within one year of graduation from their undergraduate program. Apply on line here.
In addition to Syracuse University, the 15 participating colleges are: Boston College, Clemson University, Duke University, Florida State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, North Carolina State, University of Notre Dame, University of Louisville, University of Miami, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, University of Pittsburgh, University of Virginia, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University and Wake Forest University.
Eligibility requirements:
- Each university finalist team may be composed of full-time, degree-seeking undergraduate students or recent graduates of the university within one year of graduation from their undergraduate program.
- If a team member is a recent graduate of the university, the idea for the invention must have been initially conceived while the student was enrolled as an undergraduate.
- Full-time, degree-seeking undergraduate students must comprise at least 50 percent of the registered team members. Individual teams with only one student are eligible to compete.
- Teams with generated revenue or venture capital funding in excess of $100,000 are not eligible to compete.
- Entrants should be the original creators, inventors or owners of the intellectual property (IP) underlying their invention. Any co-invention with non-students or any other third party outside the university must be fully disclosed during registration to determine if the outside contribution was substantial. A team whose idea or invention qualifies as university-owned IP is not eligible to enter.
Students who participated in Invent@SU—the Syracuse University invention accelerator— are strongly encouraged to apply.
For more information: LaunchPad@syr.edu
Photo: Last year’s ACC InVenture Prize winners, Alec Gillinder (left) and Quinn King (right), co-founders of MedUX, captured second place in the ACC finals and had a chance to pitch live on PBS. Since then, their venture has taken off, they have secured investment, and will be soon be launching in the market.