The University of Illinois’ Technology Entrepreneur Center (TEC) is pleased to announce that it will once again be a regional host for the 2015-2016 Student Startup Madness competition. Within the College of Engineering, TEC provides students with the skills, resources and experiences necessary to become successful entrepreneurs.
Student Startup Madness is a competition for students to compete against fellow entrepreneurs while grabbing the attention of possible investors and leaders in the startup community. Student Startup Madness is open to all college student digital media startups from any university nationwide.
Beginning with the 64 first-round competitors, 32 will be selected to move on to the semifinals. From there, the top 8 teams, also known as the “Entrepreneurial Eight,” will pitch their ideas to a panel of renowned entrepreneurs and investors on March 14, 2016 at South by Southwest Interactive in Austin, Texas.
Stephanie Larson, Assistant Director of Student Programs and Marketing for TEC, said that the Student Startup Madness competition is a great way for students to get involved with building their own businesses.
“SSM is a great way for our students to get involved with a digital student startup competition since so many of our students are tech savvy and create startups around technology,” she said. “We are eager for our students to make it to the Entrepreneurial Eight and have their ideas exposed at South By Southwest in Austin!”
Students can apply to be a part of Student Startup Madness until December 4.
About Student Startup Madness
The Student Startup Madness concept was developed by Sean Branagan, director of the Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, in conjunction with SXSW. Student Startup Madness, along with its sponsors and host universities, believes in American entrepreneurship and on-campus startups--- and wants to help young student entrepreneurs succeed and become a part of the SXSW experience.
About the Technology Entrepreneur Center
The Technology Entrepreneur Center (TEC) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign provides students and faculty with the skills, resources and experiences necessary to become successful innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders who tackle grand challenges and change the world. This is accomplished through its courses, venture and product competitions, workshops and other curricular and extra-curricular events that expose students to the concepts of technology innovation and market adoption.