Columbia Entrepreneurship

Columbia Organization for Rising Entrepreneurs (CORE) Town Hall
2019-09-12 18:30 UTC
Find out about the Columbia Organization for Rising Entrepreneurs (CORE) at their Town Hall meeting on Thursday, September 12 in Lerner 555!

Application Deadline: Demo at NYC Media Lab's Annual Summit
2019-09-10
OPEN TO FACULTY, STUDENTS, AND UNIVERSITY-AFFILIATED STARTUPS
APPLY HERE

Faculty, Students, and University Affiliated Startups: The NYCML’19 Demo Expo will take place Thursday, September 26 at New York City College of Technology (CUNY) and NYU Tandon School of Engineering in Downtown Brooklyn, and will host 100+ research projects. If you are working with emerging technologies on your campus, this is your opportunity to win $25,000 in awards and meet 1,000 event attendees who can help accelerate your idea. Apply today to participate.

Application Deadline - Columbia Technology Founder's Track (CTech)
2019-09-07
Open to rising second-year MBA students and SEAS graduate students who are dedicated to launching and growing a technology startup.
LEARN MORE AND APPLY HERE

Join the next cohort of the Columbia Technology Founder’s Track (CTech).
Founded by Dr. Song Li PhD ‘92, CTech seeks to create the next generation of world-changing technical founders by providing them with curriculum, mentorship, networking, and connections.
This is a selective, cross-disciplinary program open to rising second-year MBA students and SEAS graduate students who are dedicated to launching and growing a technology startup.

Design Challenge: Census 2020
2019-09-06 11:00 - 13:00
OPEN TO ALL COLUMBIA STUDENTS (INCLUDING TEACHERS COLLEGE AND BARNARD)
REGISTER HERE

Columbia Engineering is pleased to be working with the New York City Office of the Census to launch a collaborative design challenge in the emerging area of civtech. Students will develop a multi-disciplinary design concept or prototype that will increase census response rates and make sure every New Yorker is counted.
This is an incredible opportunity for students to work with a government office, utilize public data sets, and be a part of collaborations between public policy and technology.
Students from all schools at the university can participate in this challenge – individuals as well as teams are welcome. The kickoff is Friday September 6th from 11-1 in 451 Computer Science. Faculty mentors and government leaders will provide information on the Census context as well as advice on the application of specific technologies.
Please register here: https://census2020seasdesignchallenge.eventbrite.com
Please contact Ivy Schultz (ischultz@columbia.edu) with any questions.

HACKtheMACHINE
2019-09-06 - 2019-09-08
OPEN TO ALL
REGISTER HERE

HACKtheMACHINE is where people from all walks of life—from software engineers to graphic designers, from students to start-up CEOs—help the Navy solve its foremost digital challenges. At HACKtheMACHINE, technologists work alongside military and government personnel to solve complex problems that impact the global community.

Columbia Entrepreneurship Design Studio Open House
2019-09-04 18:00 - 19:30
OPEN TO ALL COLUMBIANS (Including Teachers College and Barnard)
RSVP HERE

Want to learn more about the Columbia Entrepreneurship Design Studio? Stop by during our Open House to visit the space, meet our team and learn more about how the Design Studio can help you in your projects, startups and life over the next year! We offer courses, programs, studio hours and events that help the Columbia community get unstuck and use design to tackle and solve complex problems.
Stop by anytime between 6pm-7:30pm for some good food, good conversation and a chance to learn how the Studio can become an integral part of your Columbia experience.
If you have questions, please reach out to us at designstudio@columbia.edu.

Interviews for Hacking for Defense
2019-09-03 16:10 - 19:00
If you applied to take Hacking for Defense in Fall 2019, interviews are being held today at 4:10PM in 750 CEPSR. See you there!

Design Thinking x Neuroscience
2019-08-28 19:00 - 20:30
OPEN TO STUDENTS

LEARN MORE

Join this 1.5 hour workshop, which teaches interactive design skills alongside neuroscience content.
The Design Studio is located on the 4th floor of Riverside Church. Ask the attendant on duty for location if you need further help.
About

Compared to peer institutions in New York City and other Ivy League universities, Columbia lacks a focus and research in the discipline of Disability Studies (DS). To this end, we recognize a need to educate DS students and further diffuse misconceptions about disabilities through a formalized structure. Developed by two neuroscience students registered with Office of Disabilities (ODS), we propose an affective neuroscience-based course whose curriculum touches on the topics of mindfulness, positive psychology, the development of the brain, plasticity and more. Comparable to Stanford’s “Design Your Life” course, Yale’s course on happiness, and Barnard’s own Science of Well Being course, this class focuses on inclusion, identity, and helping students with disabilities develop, design and understand their own minds.

Deep Learning to Solve Challenging Problems with the SVP of Google AI
2019-08-27 16:00 - 17:30
OPEN TO ALL

DEEP LEARNING TO SOLVE CHALLENGING PROBLEMS
Speaker: Jeff Dean, SVP Google AI / Lead, Google Brain Project
Date: Tuesday, August 27, 2019
Time: 4:00pm – 5:30pm
Location: Mudd 451 – Computer Science Building
Light refreshments will be served
For the past eight years, Google Research teams have conducted research on difficult problems in artificial intelligence, on building large-scale computer systems for machine learning research, and, in collaboration with many teams at Google, on applying our research and systems to many Google products. As part of our work in this space, we have built and open-sourced the TensorFlow system (tensorflow.org), a widely popular system designed to easily express machine learning ideas and to quickly train, evaluate, and deploy machine learning systems.
We have also collaborated closely with Google’s platforms team to design and deploy new computational hardware called Tensor Processing Units, specialized for accelerating machine learning computations. In this talk, I’ll highlight some of our recent research accomplishments, and will relate them to the National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Engineering Challenges for the 21st Century, including the use of machine learning for healthcare, robotics, language understanding and engineering the tools of scientific discovery. I’ll also cover how machine learning is transforming many aspects of our computing hardware and software systems.
This talk describes joint work with many people at Google.

Application Deadline: Endless Frontier Labs
2019-08-25
Endless Frontier Labs is focused on transforming scientific breakthroughs into high-growth businesses. EFL is completely free and does not take equity in startups. Although operated out of NYU, no NYU affiliation or relocation to NYC is required to participate. Last year, Columbia startups such as Epistemic AI (incidentally, with a NYU Cofounder) benefitted by participating in the program.
Startups admitted to EFL receive:

Structured mentorship and access to capital from EFL mentors including business leaders, elite venture investors, and world-renowned scientists; Eight of our graduates collectively raised over $16 million last year for a 100% financing rate
Business development support from Stern’s top MBA students
In-kind services from our corporate partners including Amazon Web Services, Deloitte, and Greenberg Traurig, LLP

EFL is accepting applications through August 23, 2019.

Deadline: VentureWell E-Team Grant Program, Qualification Phase
2019-08-21
OPEN TO STUDENTS
LEARN MORE

VentureWell is seeking student-led teams of science & tech innovators aiming to bring their product out of the lab and into the market.
Apply now: E-Team Grant Program
The VentureWell E-Team Grant Program awards over $650,000 yearly in funding to early-stage student startups who are on the path to launching innovations with the potential to solve a significant social, health, or environmental challenge.
NEW! Qualification Phase
Teams can submit a brief 2-page application and receive feedback on the fit and eligibility of their innovation prior to obtaining VentureWell membership and completing their full Stage 1 proposal.
The Benefits of E-Teams
Each E-Team has the potential to unlock up to $25,000 in non-dilutive funding and take part in our early-stage innovator training program. VentureWell offers coaching, national recognition, networking opportunities, and an intensive 3-day workshop where teams explore essential topics like customer discovery and business model validation.
Read more about the latest investments, awards, and breakthroughs of our E-Team alumni!
Program Information
Qualification Phase application due August 21
Stage 1 application due October 2
Pioneer Workshop January 9-11, 2020, Boston, MA
Learn More
Interested in learning more or know a team that would be a good fit?
We’re offering informational webinars to give teams the opportunity to connect with VentureWell staff.
For questions about the E-Team Program, contact David D’Angelo, Program Officer.

Deadline: Tamer Fund for Social Ventures
2019-08-15
The Tamer Center for Social Enterprise at Columbia University is now accepting applications for the Tamer Fund for Social Ventures. This Fund provides seed grants of up to $25,000 to nonprofit, for-profit, and hybrid early-stage social and environmental ventures around the world. Ventures must be led by Columbia University students or alumni, or be advised and have significant involvement by Columbia University faculty or researchers.
Want to learn more or have questions? Join us for our information session webinar on Thursday, August 1st, 2019 from 11am-12pm EST! During this webinar, you will learn about upcoming deadlines and the application process, have the chance to ask any questions you may have, and network with other social and environmental venture teams. RSVP here.
More information and the online application is available at: www.tinyurl.com/tamersvfund
Application Deadlines: August 15 and March 1, annually

APPLICATION DEADLINE: Columbia Demo Night & Investor Matching
2019-08-12 20:00
Columbia Venture Community’s application for their VC Matching Program program is currently available. The program was designed to match Columbia entrepreneurs with top-tier VCs and alumni working in venture capital. Companies whose founders, key employees, or investors are Columbia affiliates are eligible to apply. At this time, they are also searching for companies to present at the annual Columbia Demo Night in New York and San Francisco. You can find more information and apply for both opportunities here.

"Whine" Wednesday
2019-07-24 17:30 - 19:00
OPEN TO COLUMBIA STARTUP LAB TEAMS ONLY

Whine and cheese and problem solving! Columbia Startup Lab members gather together to help their fellow entrepreneurs work through an issue.

Application Deadline: Global Innovation Competition for Women-led InsurTechs
2019-07-22
Quesnay is searching for women-led startups with market-ready solutions that are applicable to the insurance industry as a part of the Female Founders in InsurTech competition. Startups globally are encouraged to apply through July 22.
Applicants will again have the opportunity to pitch at InsureTech Connect, the world’s largest gathering of insurance leaders and innovators. Additionally, this year brings together a strong group of partners and industry leaders to deliver 10+ mentorship and educational opportunities and exposure to sponsors: CSAA Insurance Group and its venture capital arm Avanta Ventures, and RGAX. The final pitch event will take place on September 23 at InsureTech Connect.
Learn more: http://bit.ly/2X0EMIJ

Fundraising Workshop with Two Sigma
2019-07-18 15:30 - 17:00
OPEN TO COLUMBIA STARTUP LAB TEAMS ONLY

Two Sigma is an early-stage venture capital fund investing in transformative companies harnessing information growth and computing power to change the world.

Product Jam
2019-07-16 16:30 - 18:00
OPEN TO COLUMBIA STARTUP LAB TEAMS ONLY

Product Jam creates a space where CSL members who are looking for feedback on their product or service can come together to demonstrate and connect. Whether you want to use your time for user testing or customer discovery, that’s up to you. Present your beta, or ask your friends to give it a try. The first 10 minutes is up to you, the second 10 minutes is feedback from your peers.

Startup Hiring Workshop with ERA Advisors
2019-07-15 10:30 - 12:00
OPEN TO COLUMBIA STARTUP LAB TEAMS ONLY

It all starts with the team. Get it right and there is no obstacle a founder can’t overcome. When the team is healthy, people show up at work with a smile and work relentlessly for the collective good. Get it wrong and you’ll wonder why the office is empty by 4pm.

When your company is at its earliest stage, you’ll hire people you already know. But with a little success, adding talent more quickly forces you to recruit total strangers. But how to do that well?
Jonathan Lowenhar has developed a proprietary framework for startup hiring and will deliver a fast paced, practical guide that any founder can implement. It’s called the 12 Rules To Not Screw Up Startup Hiring.

Startup Sales Playbook Workshop with Bowery Capital
2019-07-11 10:30 - 12:00
OPEN TO COLUMBIA STARTUP LAB TEAMS ONLY

In this session, the Bowery Capital team will discuss how to create your first sales playbook, and will cover everything from ways to identify buyers, to approaching buyers cold, and negotiating deals to close your first few customers successfully!
Bowery Capital is an early stage venture capital firm in NYC focused exclusively on founders looking to modernize business through technology.

Application Deadline: Curb-To-Market Challenge
2019-06-01
APPLY HERE

The NYC Curb-To-Market Challenge (CTMC), put on by manufacturing entrepreneur Chris Graff, is a contest offering a $500,000 prize for the best idea and business plan to repurpose NYC’s recyclable waste and locally manufacture a product to sell in the NYC market.

NYC Media Lab’s Third Annual Machines + Media Conference
2019-05-23 08:00 - 19:00
APPLY TO ATTEND
Thursday, May 23 (8AM-7PM) | Sponsored & Hosted by Bloomberg
731 Lexington Ave, New York, NY | 7th Floor

ABOUT MACHINES + MEDIA
AI, machine learning, computer vision and future interfaces – data continues to change the way media is produced, distributed, consumed and monetized. NYC Media Lab’s third annual Machines + Media conference, once again being generously sponsored and hosted by Bloomberg, will focus on new applications of data science and technology in journalism and media.
This year’s program will give special consideration to topics such as the impact of AI in a global economy, R&D priorities for media, and how technology experts are teaching computers to see, listen, speak, and interpret emotions. Join speakers and presenters from New York City’s media industry, universities and the tech community to explore the latest new trends and best practices. To learn more about the event, please browse the video documentation of 2018 panels and presentations, read select media highlights, or jump down to the application form to attend the event.

The Columbia | IBM Blockchain Accelerator Launch Program Demo Day
2019-05-17 09:00 - 12:00
Join CTV for the culminating event of the LAUNCH Blockchain Accelerator program, showcasing innovative blockchain applications developed by its cohort teams. Each team will present their startup concept and progress made over the 10-week program.
Find out more here.

Machine Learning in Finance Workshop
2019-05-17 08:15 - 18:00
OPEN TO ALL

Purchase Tickets Here

Friday, May 17, 2019
8:15 AM – 6:00 PM
Columbia University – Lerner Hall
2920 Broadway, New York, NY 10027
The Data Science Institute (DSI) at Columbia University and Bloomberg are pleased to announce a workshop on “Machine Learning in Finance”. The workshop will be held at Columbia University under the auspices of the Financial and Business Analytics Center, one of the constituent centers in the DSI, and the Center for Financial Engineering.
Boxed lunches will be provided. There will also be regular coffee breaks throughout the day and a wine and cheese reception after the event.

The Center for Financial Engineering and the Financial Analytics Center at Columbia University

Organizer of Machine Learning in Finance Workshop 2019

The Center for Financial Engineering is an interdisciplinary research center established in 2007 to encourage research on financial engineering and mathematical modeling in finance. It aims at fostering research collaboration among Columbia faculty, graduate students and affiliates, facilitating their contacts with financial institutions and corporations and enhancing the visibility of Columbia as a center for research and innovation in financial engineering.
The Center’s research activities deal with the pricing and hedging of derivative securities, the statistical modeling of financial markets, computational methods in finance, risk management, asset allocation, and portfolio optimization.
The Financial Analytics Center is one of the key centers at the Data Science Institute at Columbia University. It brings together expertise in finance theory, machine learning, statistics, signal processing, operations, and natural language processing, and supports collaborations with an appropriately trained student body as well as with the financial industry.

Peter J. Awn Memorial
2019-05-14 14:30
Please join
President Lee C. Bollinger and Jean Magnano Bollinger
and the School of General Studies
to celebrate the life of

PETER J. AWN
Professor of Religion and Dean Emeritus
of the School of General Studies
1943–2019

Tuesday, May 14, 2019
2:30 p.m.
Roone Arledge Auditorium, Lerner Hall
2920 Broadway
Columbia University in the City of New York
(Enter on Broadway)

Register here by May 7.
For any questions, please email columbiaevents@columbia.edu.

Deadline: ExxonMobil Spring Energy Challenge
2019-05-13
You have great ideas. Do something powerful with them.
Enter ExxonMobil’s first reverse pitch contest today.

BBL Ventures has opened the first Reverse Robotics Pitch for ExxonMobil. Interested applicants are invited to enter the challenge by May 13th for the chance at an invitation to Houston to participate in the reverse pitch the week of June 3rd. The prize for the winning challengers is $60,000.
BBL Ventures, an innovation partner for the energy and natural resources industry, identifies pain points and technology gaps to build solutions, provide funding, and aid in scaling new companies.
“BBL Ventures is excited to be working with a forward- thinking partner like ExxonMobil, engaging the external innovation ecosystem is a key step in advancing the energy industry’s continued success” said Patrick Lewis, managing partner.
The Robotics Reverse Pitch Challenge, overseen by BBL Ventures, helps leverage local and international businesses as well as educational institutions as a method to forward the progress of energy innovation. Prospective entrepreneurs are also invited to participate. Organizations will not only get the chance to pitch a technical solution to ExxonMobil and receive a monetary prize, but also the possibility for a commercial pilot to produce the solution. Winning entrepreneurs or companies can also receive guidance as they formulate a business plan and test their concepts for viability.
Below are the two identified challenges formulated by the field. Entries are to be emailed to info@bblventures.com by 11 p.m. CST, May 13.

Application Deadline: 2019 NYC Barclays Accelerator powered by Techstars
2019-05-12
OPEN TO ALL
APPLY HERE

Applications are now open for the 2019 FinTech accelerator in New York – the Barclays Accelerator powered by Techstars.
Check out more about the program, info sessions, and the application here.

Molecular Innovations for Live Cell Imaging (Presentation)
2019-05-09 16:00 - 18:00
Thursday, May 9, 2019
4:00PM – 6:00PM

Buell Hall

515 West 116th Street

New York, NY 10027

The fluorescent proteins revolutionized our ability to study protein function directly in the cell by enabling individual proteins to be selectively labeled through genetic encoding of a fluorescent tag. As researchers seek to make increasingly sophisticated dynamic measurements of protein function in the cell to unravel molecular mechanism, we designed a chemical tag to combine the advantages of genetic encoding with a modular organic fluorophore. With TMP-tag, the protein of interest is tagged with E. coli dihydrofolate reductase, which can subsequently be labeled with a cell permeable trimethoprim-fluorophore conjugate. Here we demonstrate that TMP-tag is a robust cellular reagent. We present recent results exploiting the modular nature of the chemical tag to generate TMP-tags for specific applications in single-molecule, super-resolution, and multi-color imaging. We look forward to innovations at the interface of chemical tag technology and spectroscopy for biological imaging.
Virginia W. Cornish graduated summa cum laude from Columbia University with a B.A. in Biochemistry in 1991, where she did undergraduate research with Professor Ronald Breslow. She earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry with Professor Peter Schultz at the University of California at Berkeley and then was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Biology Department at M.I.T. under the guidance of Professor Robert Sauer. Virginia joined the faculty of the Chemistry Department at Columbia in 1999, where she carries out research at the interface of chemistry and biology, and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2004 and then Professor in 2007. Her laboratory brings together modern methods in synthetic chemistry and DNA technology to expand the synthetic capabilities of living cells. Her research has resulted in 59 research publications and several patents and currently is supported by multiple grants from the NIH and NSF. Virginia has been recognized for her research by awards including an NSF Career Award (2000), a Sloan Foundation Fellowship (2003), the Protein Society Irving Sigal Young Investigator Award (2009), and the American Chemical Society Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry (2009). In addition to her research and teaching, Virginia enjoys spending time with her husband and their three children.

Please contact marley.bauce@columbia.edu with any event related questions.

Knowledge Graphs for AI in the Enterprise
2019-05-07 - 2019-05-08
RSVP HERE

Learn about#knowledgegraph applications in Financial Services, Healthcare, Digital Commerce, Government, Supply Chain from Airbnb, Amazon, Uber, Microsoft, Google, IBM, United Nations, Montefiore Health System, Pitney Bowes, Goldman Sachs, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Mastercard, Wells Fargo, Refinitiv, AstraZeneca, Capital One, Accenture, Collibra, TigerGraph, Enigma Technologies, Inc., Diffbot and more…

TechDay New York
2019-05-02 10:00 - 17:00
Looking for the next big thing in tech? How about premier access to the startup everyone’s talking about? Or simply want to explore everything this startup scene has to offer? Whether you’re an investor, member of the press, user, developer, job seeker, corporate or someone in between, attending TechDay gives you an exclusive look into today’s latest and greatest tech with direct access to the startups & partners making it all happen.
While you’re there, keep an eye out for exhibits from Columbia Startups!

REGISTER HERE

CEO's Startup Pitch Night
2019-05-01 18:00 - 20:00
CEO – Columbia Business School’s entrepreneurship student group – is excited to present its second annual Start-Up Pitch Night with the School of Engineering on May 1! All ideas at any stage in your process, from concept to prototype, are welcome. Join for food, drinks, networking with engineers, and an evening of rapid-fire pitching!:

When? Wednesday May 1, 6-8pm
Where? Davis Auditorium (Room 412 in the Schapiro Center for Engineering and Physical Science Research, located immediately behind Uris)

To sign up as an observer, submit your RSVP to the Eventbrite here.

To sign up to pitch, RSVP to the Eventbrite AND fill out this form to submit your deck (3 minutes max per group!)
