SIL is launching May 20 and is a pilot Co-op program, where five students from five different disciplines tackle five challenges. The programming, such as workshops and events, however, is open to the public and everybody is invited to get inspired, collaborate, engage, and ideate on how to change the world by addressing small and large problems with systemic reach. Learn more about it

Five Emerging Startups Funded for $23,500

Eleven interdisciplinary teams [lineup] pitched their emerging startup ideas to a panel of judges at the Pitchfest on April 9, 2013.

The following five teams generated innovative ideas, delivered solid business models, and were awarded funding from the judges:

UrbanFlex [$6,000] Zachary Jackson (Industrial Design) and Alex Schwarzkopf (Electromechanical Engineering)

CareEz [$6,000] Ciro Podany (Architecture), Walmen Dumaliang (Industrial Design), Tory Lam (Architecture), Nick Strout (Architecture), and Derek Bisson (Architecture)

.DAT [$5,000] JT White (Master of Architecture), Lucy Brown (Master of Architecture), Joseph Meucci (Master of Architecture), Samuel Walusimbi (Master of Architecture), and Grant Wilkes (Computer Science)

Trafficflux [$3,500] Matthew Michaud (Computer Science), Ben Greenier (Computer Science), and Abraham Oosten (Graphic Design, Massachusetts College of Art and Design)

FindMe [$3,000] Ben Sewards (Computer Science), Ralph Giangregorio (Computer Science), Chou Yang (Computer Science), and Chris Streeks (Computer Networking)

Judges for “Pitchfest” included Bobbie Carlton, founder of Mass Innovation Nights; Armand Milazzo, President and founder of Milazzo Enterprise, LLC; Stefania Nappi Mallett, founder of EzCatering; and Fady Saad, co-founder of e-Powerhouse.

Since May 2012 more than 200 students have been involved in Accelerate, forming more than 80 interdisciplinary teams to pitch ideas, and over 70 mentors have supported these teams. To date, 15 teams were funded, totaling $77,000.

Hot Seat \\ Mentor Networking \\ Mar 7, 2013

Emerging startups are in the hot seat to demo their idea to Alumni, mentors, Boston professionals and fellow entrepreneurs. It is their first time presenting their ideas to the public, so ask many challenging questions for them to better prepare for the Pitchfest, April 9, and to give them some laser mentoring.

Please register at http://acceleratehotseatnetworking.eventbrite.com

Accelerate Spring 2013 Edition – 33 ideas entered!

Here is why they participate - Pitching Accelerate

We are very excited to have such a diverse range of ideas. From wind turbines to collegiate jewelry, from green homes to lacrosse helmets. Stay tuned for our pitching events this Spring.

See some teams getting ready for the Pitchfest

15 New Interdisciplinary Startup Ideas pitched – $25,500 invested!

On Friday, November 16, 4-8pm (EST) 15 teams pitched to receive funding to move their startups to the next stage. Check out the Lineup. There were so many great pitches that the judges deliberated for a very, very long time. Five teams were funded for a total of $25,500. Congratulations and we are looking forward to working with all teams to continue their entrepreneurial journey!

Accelerate on BostInno 

Wentworth embraces it’s entrepreneurial mindset and turns students’ ideas into reality! 

Fall Submission at Record High

Accelerate is an innovation + entrepreneurship challenge for Wentworth students catalyzing ideas to impact the world.

We tripled ideas/teams to 45 and doubled the students engaged in this second iteration of Accelerate. Great ideas were submitted and we are very excited to be helping the students to push themselves, connect with mentors and the Boston ecosystem, attend workshops (every Wed, 6pm in Beatty 426), and prepare for the pitchfest in November.  And this is why you should care - Check us out Pitching Accelerate

AccelerateTALK

Boston.com  09/25 - Old school meet new school: How universities are adapting to build entrepreneurs and a day earlier on Boston.com | The Hive | 09/24 – Accelerate on the panel + Pelkey Design in good company with other college startups #AIM4E – Congrats to Taxi Right Now.

Awesome Products meet with Daymond John in NYC

On Sept 6, Awesome Products headed to NYC to meet with Daymond John, Founder of FUBU and Shark on ABC’s Shark Tank to get some business advice and guidance. The team learned so much and is ready to go to the next level.

Pedicab Team, Pelkey Design | On Boston.com and TWICE in the Boston Globe

Check out the Pedicab Team, John Pelkey + Eric Crouch, the top funded team of Accelerate Summer 2012 being mentioned in the Innovation Economy on 9/9  Boston.com

In the Boston Globe on 9/10 and in the Boston Globe Editorial on 9/14  Reinventing the wheels of the pedicab

On Boston.com on 9/27 as nominees for “Best Startup Award Boston” among other college startups.

[Eric Crouch, BMET & John Pelkey, BIND]

Congratulations to 5 funded Teams!

15 teams and 50+ students have participated in the first iteration of Accelerate this summer. 10 Teams pitched in front of judges in our very first Pitchfest, June 28, 2012 and five teams were funded for a total of 29K to build their prototypes and test the market. The other very promising teams will continue to work on their ideas, refine them, solicit more input from potential customers, continue to attend the Accelerate workshops, and hopefully be back in September for our second round of Accelerate.

Start getting ready for the next round kickstarting September 17!

Participating in this challenge will give you the opportunity to:

• Immerse yourself in learning about business planning and launching a venture
• Pitch your idea in front of judges
• Receive funding and build a prototype/proof of concept for your service or product
• Enjoy one-on-one mentoring from alumni and fellow entrepreneurs
• Receive expert guidance from alumni, faculty, and the external Boston community
• Attend events and workshops
• Build valuable connections to industry 
• Build your own team with people from different disciplines

Stay tuned for more information on this website. Also follow us on twitter @WITXLR8 or facebook.com/innovateatwit.

Questions? - Join us in the first week of the summer semester for info sessions or send an email to accelerate@wit.edu.

SIL is launching May 20 and is a pilot Co-op program, where five students from five different disciplines tackle five challenges. The programming, such as workshops and events, however, is open to the public and everybody is invited to get inspired, collaborate, engage, and ideate on how to change the world by addressing small and large problems with systemic reach.

Do you have an idea? Then get your team together! Pick people from disciplines necessary to make you successful. Not sure how? Come to our OFFICE in the new Innovation Space in Willson 2nd floor ! Huddle over your idea and submit your application this Summer to get a HEADSTART for the Fall by answering only five questions.

FORM YOUR IDEA

You may have had an idea all along. Your design projects really got you interested in a specific problem and you are determined to find a solution? You don’t have an idea, but want to be part of a team that does some cool development and helps change the world?

Then ACCELERATE, the Innovation + Entrepreneurship Challenge, is right for you. Learn more about the process and benefits and visit our Office, Innovation Space, Willson 2nd floor.

RECRUIT YOUR TEAM

You are better together! Assemble and recruit your team. The talent you want is most likely diverse and comes from different disciplines, so you can cover different aspects of your product/service idea development and ACCELERATE.

If you know your team already – great – you are ready to submit your idea. If you don’t have all your talent yet, don’t worry – you have a chance to interview and scout talent during the ACCELERATE open house.

You can also sign up with ePowerhouse, the Linkedin for entrepreneurs – people that are looking to join a team, will check out the postings and signal their interest via email. Hopefully find a good match. If not, you’ll continue the search, but already gained valuable experience conducting and participating in networking and recruiting conversations.

SUBMIT YOUR IDEA

Fill out a basic submission form. All it does is alert us that you are interested in the process and that you are committed to learning all you can about innovation + entrepreneurship. Here are the five questions:

1. What is your idea about?
2. Which problem does it solve?
3. What impact does it have to the world?
4. Who is on your team?
5. What are the milestones to make your idea a reality?

Once you submitted your application meet with the ACCELERATE team first and from there we’ll  help you refine your idea, connect you with alumni or expert faculty.  You have a couple of weeks/ months to prepare your business pitch in front of judges! Learn as much about entrepreneurship, finance, business models, marketing… as you can.

MEET ALUMNI or EXPERT FACULTY

The submission of your idea will trigger a meeting with the ACCELERATE team. As you are progressing you will be connected with someone, who has experience in the industry or field of your idea. This could be a faculty member or an alumni. The intend is to give you laser feedback – is your idea too broad? Can you accomplish a prototype/proof of concept within only a short timeframe? Does the market need your idea? etc.

CREATE A BUSINESS PLAN

We are not going to ask for an extensive business plan, but we want you to think through your venture by answering guiding questions important for positioning your business/idea. The questions are intended to prepare you as best as possible for your pitch in front of judges.

Questions will circle around the four areas:

1. Solution
2. Impact [Innovation, Market, Value to Society]
3. Business Model [Milestones, Potential for commercialization, Feasability, Financials]
4. Team constellation

Funded or not, you’ll have two months or longer to build your prototype, and receive valuable 1-1 mentoring from alumni and fellow entrepreneurs. If you don’t get funded – don’t worry – learn more, refine your idea, do some brainstorming and try again.

COMPETE + GET FUNDED

In order to get selected you need to be selling the panel around the four business planning areas. If there are gaps, you’ll get a chance to go back, refine your areas and skills necessary to move to the next level, and pitch again at a later time. The whole experience is about learning, so don’t worry, if you are not ready the first time.

If you get selected and funded – congratulations. You did an incredible job out of the gate!

RECEIVE 1-1 ALUMNI MENTORING

We’ll be pairing you up with one alumni or fellow entrepreneur, who has a high level of expertise in the industry and/or function that you will be entering.  This is your sector that you are looking to build your idea into and potentially build a business in down the road. This is a fantastic experience to learn closely from a successful entrepreneur, build lifelong relationships and networks in the industry.

BUILD PROTOTYPE or PROOF OF CONCEPT

You will work with your team and under the guidance of your mentor(s) to build a prototype or proof of concept for your product or your service. Guidance is given through all phases of the prototyping process such as identify exactly what problem you are addressing, identify criteria and constrains, ideate/brainstorm possibilities and explore their viability, select an approach and build, build, build … while learning everything about starting up a business.