Here’s a quick look at what’s available in October!
Deadlines
Deadline: Design Your Future (Oct 9): The future can feel uncertain, so now there’s Design Your Future, a three-session program where students learn to apply Design to their careers and their life after graduation. The goal of this program is to help you to better navigate your career and life choices in the face of uncertainty.
Start Me Up Bootcamp Fall 2020 (Oct 12): Join a Lean Launchpad virtual course to test your idea in the market! Participants in this free, two-week course will receive entrepreneurship training and mentor support as they virtually talk with customers to identify the best product-market fit using the lean launchpad methodology. Faculty, staff, postdoctoral, graduate and undergraduate student researchers may apply with a team of one to three people. Applicants are expected to be available for all short-course sessions. Teams that successfully complete this bootcamp may become eligible to apply for the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps Teams program, which includes a $50,000 grant. Application Deadline: October 12, 2020
Bootcamp Dates: October 15, 16, 22, 29
Deadline: Design for Social Innovation (Oct 16): The DFSI Track is a self-paced, project-based program for Columbia students interested in addressing global problems. Submit a statement of interest and get access to two information sessions: Wednesday, October 7th from 6pm to 7pm ET and Friday, October 9th from 1pm to 2pm ET. The deadline to begin work with DFSI is October 16.
Columbia Venture Competition Starts Now (Oct 30): Introducing the addition of the Fall Preliminary Round of the Columbia Venture Competition. Details are at StartupColumbia.org where you’ll see format and rules changes designed to improve the experience for everyone and to reward Columbia’s most innovative startups. Teams participating in the Fall Preliminary Round may also compete in any of the other Spring Venture Competition Challenges. Teams will pitch over Zoom to judges during the week of Nov. 16. The deadline for registration is Oct. 30 but please register now, you won’t need your pitch deck!
External
Rapid Testing Innovation Competition (Oct 14): To accelerate the development and deployment of rapid tests, New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), on behalf of the City, is seeking to identify companies developing innovative molecular or antigen rapid tests that can deliver results quickly, reliably, and at scale. Diagnostic test manufacturers, suppliers, developers, and academics are invited to submit proposals by Oct. 14. Details here.
KP Fellows Program (Oct 19): Kleiner Perkins has been at the center of innovation – investing and building companies like Google, Amazon, Square, Slack, Twitter, Uber, Genentech, and many more. An important part of building iconic companies is attracting young talent and that’s why the group started the KP Fellows program. The program is an opportunity for technical students who are interested in pursuing entrepreneurship, technology, and startups.
SBIR Funding (Oct 22): DoD non-dilutive funding (SBIR 2020.3) closes October 22, 2020. See TechCrunch article, Geoff Orazem’s SBIR for startups guide, and especially the Air Force AFVentures’ open innovation topics.
WBENC Cummins Grant for Black Student Female Founders (Oct 23): Applications are now open for the WBENC Cummins Grant for Black Student Female Founders! WBENC and Cummins are providing $6K grants to student entrepreneurs and recent grads.
Events
Using Human-Centered Design to Understand Customer Choice (Oct 1): In the past six months, our perspectives on our daily lives have shifted considerably — affecting how we make choices about where we live, how we work, and what we consume. Join CBS Executive Education’s Webinar with Adam Royalty, designer-in-residence at Columbia Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Design, to learn about a powerful tool called Human-Centered Design that helps us better understand how people make decisions.
Gathering Startup Research for Student Entrepreneurs (Oct 9, 9pm): Are you thinking about launching a startup? Learn about business research resources from Columbia University Libraries. Session will include a 30 minute presentation and 30 minutes of Q&A with Columbia’s Entrepreneurship Librarian. This session is intended for current Columbia students. Please register to receive a Zoom invitation.
19th Annual Social Enterprise Conference, Capital for Good (Oct 9): Held throughout the academic semester, this headline event held by Columbia Business School’s Tamer Center will bring social impact leaders in business, government, nonprofit, and philanthropy to speak on how they are changing the way we think about how capital is sourced and used to generate sustainable solutions to global, systemic challenges.
Design Thinking: Innovation Strategy for You and Your Organization (Oct 13-22): In this four-day program from CBS’s Executive Education program, participants learn how to apply design thinking — a problem-solving technique that involves exploring and reframing complex challenges in order to generate solutions — to drive customer-focused innovation in their own organizations.
Third Thursday: The Pitch (Oct 15): Learn how to pitch your product or business to potential investors. Join Columbia Engineering on October 15th for its monthly Third Thursday forum to hear from alumni entrepreneurs.
Spark Workshop Searies: BlackOakTV | Building Advocacy Through Entertainment (Oct 16): BlackOakTV is on a mission to super-serve black viewers around the world with entertainment and information reflecting their lives and experiences while eliminating the underrepresentation and misrepresentation of black people in media that promotes antagonism against black people across the globe. Join Columbia Business School’s Tamer Center for this interactive workshop to brainstorm innovative ways to deliver entertainment content that also addresses today’s societal challenges about race and social justice.
SBIR/STTR Workshop (Oct 21-22): Join CTV, in partnership with Stony Brook University, at their 1.5 day SBIR/STTR workshop. Led by experts from BBC Entrepreneurial Training & Consulting, the session will review key basics, including program purpose, eligibility, and sources of funding. The general overview will be combined with proposal prep essentials of the NIH and NSF programs.
External
NYC Defense Innovation Meetup (October 15, 5 – 7pm): Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) Information Directorate (Rome, NY) chief engineer, Karen Roth, will provide an overview of AFRL Rome’s open innovation initiatives, including their public-private partnership Innovare, followed by Q&A, and open community discussion (gives, asks, news). Register here.