Apply now for the ACC InVenture Prize and a chance at up to $30,000 in prizes

students with a trophy

Syracuse students can apply here through February 1 for the campus qualifier for the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) InVenture Prize.  The competition features the top student startup teams from the 15 colleges and universities in the ACC Academic Consortium vying for more than $30,000 in prizes in live finals at Florida State University to be televised by PBS.  The ACC InVenture Prize is the nation’s largest undergraduate student innovation competition.  The campus competition is coordinated by the Blackstone LaunchPad at SU Libraries. Read more in this SU News story.

The Syracuse campus competition will be February 11, 2022 and the winner will go on to participate in the finals to be held at Florida State University on April 1 and 2, 2022.  The winning team can send up to two students on the expense paid trip to the finals in Florida. Finalists in the campus ACC InVenture Prize competition will also be invited to apply for LaunchPad Innovation Fund grants available through a gift to SU Libraries. 

The competition is open to undergraduate students who have received their degree within the past year and who are the original creators, inventors or owners of the intellectual property underlying their invention.

Past Syracuse contestants included:

  • Kate Beckman ’17 G’18 (Newhouse) founder of FreshU
  • Alec Gillinder ’20 (VPA School of Design) and Quinn King ’20 (VPA School of Design), co-founders of MedUX
  • Kayla Simon ’19 (Engineering and Computer Science) and Elizabeth Tarangelo ’19 (Engineering and Computer Science), co-founders of In-Spire
  • Russell Fearon ’20 G’21 (Engineering and Computer Science) and Ricardo Sanchez ’21 (VPA School of Design), co-founders of SugEx

Gillinder and Quinn captured second-place in the 2019 event.

For questions, coaching, or helping with pitch competition, reach out to the LaunchPad.