May 3, 2018 The academic year might be over, but a dedicated group of nearly 30 entrepreneurial Pitt students of all levels from across the University will be working to launch their big ideas into the world. Now in its third year, the Blast Furnace, a program of the Innovation Institute's Big Idea Center for…
Read MorePitt Student Entrepreneurs Take National Stage at Pitch Competitions
April 11, 2108 Four Growers Wins Runner-up Prize, $10,000 at ACC InVenture Prize Competition Fresh off claiming top prize in the Randall Family Big Idea Competition, the student team Four Growers captured second place prize of $10,000 at the annual ACC InVenture Prize competition on April 5 & 6. Meanwhile, both Four Growers and…
Read MorePitt Innovation Institute Establishes Big Idea Center for Student Entrepreneurship
Big Idea Competition Marks 10th Anniversary of Launching Pitt Student Entrepreneurs
March 30, 2018 Big Idea Winners Announced and News on the Brand New Big Idea Center for Student Entrepreneurship With a blast of confetti falling from above the stage at the Charity Randall Theater, the participants in the 2018 Randall Family Big Idea Competition celebrated the culmination of two months of extra-curricular work on ideas…
Read MoreTwo Pitt Student Startup Teams Accepted into Rice Business Plan Competition
March 5, 2018 For the first time in the 17-year history of the Rice Business Plan Competition, billed as the world’s richest and largest graduate-level student startup competition, Pitt will be among the competitors. The accomplishment is twice as exciting, as not one, but two Pitt teams were accepted for the 2018 competition. Four Growers…
Read MoreRandall Family Big Idea 2018 Kicks Off with Bootcamp
With Nearly 300 Students in 100 Teams, This Year's Competition is the Biggest in its 10-Year History The final round will take place Thursday, March 29, 2018 at the Charity Randall Theatre at 4 p.m. Join us to see which teams walk away with a total of $100K. Sneha Jeevan had developed an idea for…
Read MoreBig Ideas Take Shape at Startup Blitz
By Mike YEomans January 2018 Nearly 50 students with a pent up passion for entrepreneurship came to the Innovation Institute’s spring semester Startup Blitz armed with ideas that ran the gamut from improved battery chargers for electric cars to a robotic system for harvesting produce in a greenhouse to a social media…
Read MoreBlast Furnace Students Solve Problems Close to Their Hearts
The problems a few dozen Pitt students wrestled with this semester weren’t in a homework assignment or an exam. They were often intensely personal problems, the solutions to which they had formed into the kernel of an idea for a new product or service. To nurture those ideas they entered the 6th cohort of the…
Read MoreFirst Gear Teams Awarded $25,000 at Demo Day Pitch Competition
November 30, 2017 By Mike Yeomans A biomaterial bandage for closing chronic wounds and a fall detection and prevention system were both awarded a total of $25,000 from the Chancellor Innovation Commercialization Funds at the most recent Pitt Ventures First Gear Demo Day. Taking the top award of $20,000 in the pitch competition was OH…
Read More12th Celebration of Innovation Recognizes Accomplishments of Pitt Innovators
The University of Pittsburgh Innovation Institute hosted its 12th Celebration of Innovation on November 29, 2017, at Alumni Hall, Connolly Ballroom. The Celebration of Innovation recognized Pitt faculty and students who have had their discoveries licensed or optioned from the University. The University enjoyed a record breaking year of innovation in Fiscal…
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