Overview
The Penn State Berks Flemming CEED Center invites all Penn State student teams to submit their innovative ideas to address significant challenges. We encourage students to tackle both local and global issues by developing creative and impactful solutions. This year, we especially welcome submissions that focus on the innovative use of artificial intelligence and emphasize sustainability.
What is an Idea Challenge?
You and your team will come up with a solution to a significant problem using your skills, knowledge, and creativity. You only need to come up with the idea at this stage; you don’t have to build the solution or create a business plan. In the next round, you will work with an assigned mentor to create a business model canvas.
What are the benefits?
The top three teams will have an opportunity to receive specialized training in Business Model Development and Customer Discovery, along with a seed grant of up to $1,000 to bring their ideas to life—whether through prototyping or further development! But that’s not all—teams will also gain access to the resources of the Flemming CEED Center and Berks LaunchBox, with the chance to connect with strategic partners, business mentors, and fellow students, all eager to help turn your idea into a thriving venture. Selected teams will be invited to the Flemming CEED Center Customer Discovery Lab in Spring 2025 and become eligible for even more funding to accelerate their business start-ups!
Recieve Funding
The top three teams will be awarded a $1000 “IMAGINE Your Business” grant for developing their ideas. This grant was funded by the County of Berks Imagine Berks Fund. Student teams can be warded up to $2000 in total if the continue other programs.
Make a difference while learning
Use your creativity and talent to make an impact while working with mentors and others while gaining valuable innovation, entrepreneurship, and interpersonal skills.
What is Customer Discovery Lab?
The first step of taking an idea from concept to business is validating whether your idea addresses an important problem of your target customers. Penn State Berk’s 4-week Customer Discovery Lab helps you better handle what problem your customer has, where they hang out, and what value you can provide that others can’t. The program introduces methods to test business models and markets. The Customer Discovery Lab is free of charge for selected teams. We will have a Customer Discovery Lab session in the Spring.
Application and Competition Process:
A Penn State Berks student must lead teams. The idea must be students’ original ideas.
Application Deadline:
Submit your application by September 25, 2024 (11:59 PM EST).
Finalist Announcement:
Finalists will be announced on October 2, 2024.
Video Pitch Submission:
Finalists are required to submit a 3-minute video pitch by October 18, 2024 (11:59 PM EST).
Teams Training:
The top three teams will be announced by October 30, 2024. The top three teams will then be invited to attend a training session on “Empowering Innovation with Business Model Canvas” (TBD) during the first week of November. The training is a requirement of the award.
Awards Ceremony:
The top three teams will each receive a $1,000 “IMAGINE Your Business” Grant after submitting their final business model canvas and pitching their ideas during Global Entrepreneurship Week at the award ceremony on November 22, 2024, at 12:15 pm.
After the Awards:
The top three teams will also be invited to join the Flemming CEED Center Customer Discovery Lab, starting in early Spring 2025 (February).