Innovation & Entrepreneurship Academy

All competitions are open to UMass students and graduates of the last decade (GOLD alums). Startups with for-profit, nonprofit and hybrid business plans are welcome. 

Participants are coached to develop their ideas, create start-up plans, and scale their start-ups through boot camps, advice from industry experts, mentors’ guidance and celebrity judges’ feedback. 

Advice & Office Hours: All students are encourage to participate in I&E Academy office hours with Berthiaume Center MBA Fellows to work on their pitch presentation and get feedback and advice before competing. Office Hours are available by appointment via each fellow’s Calendly Link.

Pitch Camp: All competitors in the I&E Academy competitions will participate in a pitch camp to help practice, define and refine their pitch. Competitors will learn essential details about each competition and tips and tricks on how to do a professional startup pitch.

Feedback: Following every competition, competitors receive a virtual feedback packet from the Berthiaume Center that includes their scores and direct input from each of the judges from the competition. We highly recommend that teams use this feedback to help their ventures progress post-competition, regardless of competition results. 

Apply! Click here to see application deadlines and upcoming competitions.

Looking to start a venture? Want to add a co-founder or venture support? Startup Bootcamps are interactive workshops designed for students to share and generate ideas, form teams, and learn how to bring a venture to fruition. Startup Bootcamps provide just-in-time support and tangible skills to learn how to run a business. From learning how to pitch to gaining hands-on skills from student founders and experts, Startup Bootcamps support all students, faculty and staff who want to be entrepreneurs.

Startups pitch for 60-seconds and compete for a prize pool of $2,500 including an audience choice prize! New ideas are welcome and no written business plan or executive summary is required.

Startups will form their business model and perfect the long-form board room style pitch and need to convince the judges how and why their startup will be successful. Up to $15,000 in seed money will be awarded to select teams as determined by the judges.

Ideators will present their technology/invention-based idea or prototype to a panel of esteemed judges for feedback and compete for a prize pool of $15,000. No business model canvas or executive summary is required. Are you up to the challenge?

​​​​​​Are you up to the challenge and ready to change the world? Pitch your idea before a panel of judges!

​​​​​​​Meet the UMass I&E community and find out who the winners are from the Executive Pitch Competition, the Tech Challenge, and the Social Entrepreneurship Challenge campus competition! 

Part-five of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Academy is a no-pitch business plan competition in Fall 2022! Submit your business plan for the chance to win funding for your startup.