Public Invited to Watch UMass Lowell Pitch Contest via Zoom
04/13/2020
Contacts for media: Nancy Cicco, Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu and Christine Gillette, 978-758-4664, Christine_Gillette@uml.edu
LOWELL, Mass. – Innovating even in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, UMass Lowell students learning entrepreneurship skills will present their ideas for new products and services in a pitch competition that will be held remotely for the first time.
UMass Lowell’s DifferenceMaker program brings together students in all majors and teaches them to think like entrepreneurs and even launch their own businesses and nonprofits. This year, as the UMass Lowell community teaches and works remotely, students will participate in the eighth annual DifferenceMaker $50K Idea Challenge via Zoom on Wednesday, April 15 at 5 p.m. The event is also open to the public and those interested in watching the event should register online.
The contest’s judges, many of them UMass Lowell alumni, will hear from students pitching ideas for everything from biodegradable face masks to a service that trains people to escape burning buildings. Winning teams will receive shares of $50,000 in seed money from private donations.
More than ever before, student ideas focus on health care, public service and environmental protection, according to Holly Butler, DifferenceMaker’s entrepreneurial initiatives project director. The challenge includes new awards for ideas that demonstrate a commitment to sustainability, she added.
Since the DifferenceMaker program’s launch, UMass Lowell students have formed 35 companies, filed for eight patents and raised $4 million in funding. Successful ventures include Nonspec, which builds prosthetics for people in developing countries; TopaCan, which makes and sells a portable device that turns beverage cans into environmentally friendly receptacles for cigarette butts; and invisaWear, inventor and seller of a personal safety alert device that looks like jewelry.
UMass Lowell is a national research university located on a high-energy campus in the heart of a global community. The university offers its more than 18,000 students bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in business, education, engineering, fine arts, health, humanities, sciences and social sciences. UMass Lowell delivers high-quality educational programs, vigorous hands-on learning and personal attention from leading faculty and staff, all of which prepare graduates to be leaders in their communities and around the globe. www.uml.edu