This year’s iSchool’s RvD iPrize and the Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award competitions will be held virtually on March 26 from 1:45 p.m. to 5 p.m. They can be viewed in real time over Zoom by any students, family and friends who want to watch. The competitions feature a combined prize package of $50,000 and are one of the highlights of the spring semester. Watch them here.
The RvD Fund is named after former iSchool dean Raymond Von Dran, who served from 1995 until his passing in 2007. Von Dran was a longtime academic entrepreneur and staunch supporter of student innovation. He started several innovative programs in higher education. To honor his memory and ensure that her husband’s infectious spirit for innovation continued, his wife Gisela generously created the RvD Fund. Prizes totaling $40,000 will be awarded to top performing Syracuse University students across categories through the RvD Fund.
The Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship Awards are funded through the Hunter Brooks Watson Memorial Fund (Hunter’s Fund) in memory of Hunter Brooks Watson, a Syracuse University iSchool student who passed away in a 2016 distracted driving accident. The competition is concurrent with the RvD iPrize. $10,000 will be awarded to Syracuse University student teams through the Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award.
All monies are awarded as non-dilutive seed funding.
Students will be pitching ideas for products, services and technologies in the following categories:
- AgTech & Food
- Infrastructure, First Responder & Defense
- MedTech & Life Sciences
- Education & Well-Being
- Consumer & Business Products
- Software & Services