Apply now for the ACC InVenture Prize, up to $30,000 in prizes and national recognition

students posing with a prize trophy

Syracuse student innovators are invited to apply now 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 finals televised by PBS. Syracuse student startup teams can apply here for the campus qualifier to be held in Bird Library on February 11, 2021.

The winner of the campus competition will receive a $5,000 cash prize for the top invention, product, service, or technology, and will go on to participate in the finals, held for the first time at Florida State University on April 1 and 2.  The winning team can send up to two students on the trip to the finals in Florida.

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. The ACC InVenture Prize is the nation’s largest undergraduate student innovation competition.

Past Syracuse contestants Kate Beckman ’17 G’18 (Newhouse) founder of FreshU and Alec Gillinder ’20 (VPA School of Design) and Quinn King ’20 (VPA School of Design), co-founders of MedUX, all made it to the vaulted “final five” broadcast on PBS.  Gillinder and King captured the second-place trophy at the event (pictured above). Other Syracuse University top inventors who went to the finals and were featured in the PBS broadcast included Kayla Simon ’19 (Engineering and Computer Science) and Elizabeth Tarangelo ’19 (Engineering and Computer Science), co-founders of In-Spire, and Russell Fearon ’20 G’21 (Engineering and Computer Science) and Ricardo Sanchez ’21 (VPA School of Design), co-founders of SugEx.

PBS broadcast stage for the ACC InVenture Prize finals

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