2022 Submissions

On February 17, 2022, we will hold the second UCF Technology Ventures Symposium. The fundamental objective of this symposium is to showcase the little know HIDDEN GEMS within UCF research, faculty, and alumni for advancement and potential investment.

The Symposium is designed to provide a forum to enable conversations and interactions that promote the creation and diffusion of innovation by: (A) The creation of new Technology Ventures, (B) Funding of new Technology Ventures or, (C) Transfer of new technologies to existing companies.

We aim to give UCF alumni, faculty, and student teams an opportunity to showcase their new venture ideas in front of representatives from local and national venture capital organizations. In addition, we hope to create a forum for existing companies to engage with new ventures, new technologies, and academic leaders.

Currently enrolled UCF students (full-time or part-time) as well as Emerging Alumni (those who have graduated between Fall 2019-Fall 2021) who are selected to present will be eligible for a $10,000 prize! Presentations will be judged by a pre-selected panel of investors. Please note that ONLY current UCF students and those designated as Emerging Alumni, will be eligible for this prize.

If you are interested in participating in this event, please submit a 1-page summary document and a 2 minute video here!

Your video should offer brief glimpses to the following topics. Your 1-page summary should expand on the following topics:

• Motivation – What is the real-world problem that you are attempting to solve or an example of a “commercial breakthrough” that could be achieved if the research is successfully commercialized. This should be practical but thought provoking.
• Market – What is the scope of that market or that problem and who is the potential consumer. This should answer the question “Who wants this and what will they pay for it?”.
• Uniqueness – What makes your approach unique? Elaborate in layman’s terms what you bring to the table and demonstrate your distinctive approach.
• Status of IP – What is the status of this endeavor? Ideally, it would be licensable IP but perhaps there is an entity already structured to develop this. This should answer “what stops someone else from doing this?”
• Next Steps – Who do you need to talk to next? i.e. Office of Commercialization, industry, others.

Timeline:

• January 24, 2022: Deadline to submit videos and 1-page summary for review
• January 31, 2022: Judging committee will make announcement of selected presenters
• February 7, 2022: Guidelines & agenda for final presentations will be shared
• February 17, 2022: Live event via Zoom