We’re wishing luck to the three Syracuse University teams — CLLCTVE, Forum Foods and Strive — competing next week in the global regionals of the prestigious Hult Prize. The teams were selected out of 200,000 applications from around the world, to pitch at the highly selective Boston, San Francisco, and Toronto regional competitions. The $1 million Hult Prize is a global initiative to encourage students to create ideas to help solve global issues through social entrepreneurship. It is considered the world’s biggest engine for the launch of social impact student startups around the world. Winners of the upcoming global regionals will then participate in an eight-week accelerator at Hult Castle in London, and compete for a $1 million grant prize next fall at the United Nations.
The Syracuse University teams are:
- CLLCTVE, competing in the Boston regional. The team includes Kelsey Davis (Newhouse), Lucia Baez (Newhouse) and Ryan Williams.
- Forum Foods, competing in the San Francisco regional. The team includes Morgan Eaton (Maxwell), Lainie Duckworth (Maxwell), Jaime Ciesinski (Whitman), Jack Ramza (Whitman and Newhouse).
- Strive, competing in the Toronto regional. The team includes Audrey Miller (Maxwell), David Fox (iSchool), Emma Rothman (Falk) and Nick Barba (Whitman). Miller and Rothman ran the Syracuse campus competition, and Miller is the official Syracuse University campus ambassador.
The Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars at Syracuse University, part of SU Libraries, sponsors the Hult Syracuse University annual competition. This year’s Hult Prize Syracuse campus judges included: Adria Fitch, City of Syracuse Innovation Office; Liam Kirst, City of Syracuse Office of Neighborhood and Business Development; Mark Jackson, Syracuse University Office of Community Engagement; Derek Watson, founder of Kalamata’s Kitchen; and Amy and Adam Fazackerley, CEO and COO of Lay-n-Go, LLC. Past Syracuse University Hult campus winners included Thrive Projects, which went on to the regionals in Boston, Farm to Flame, which went on to the regionals in Boston, and Drop Top, which went on to the regionals in Toronto.
Travel for the teams to travel to San Francisco, Toronto and Boston this year was generously supported by the Whitman School of Management, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, SA and SU Libraries.
Photo: Hult Prize Syracuse University 2018 teams at the competition in Bird Library