Newark Innovation Acceleration Challenge

Hosted annually during the fall semester, the New Jersey Innovation Acceleration Center at NJIT runs the Newark Innovation Acceleration Challenge. This is a challenge put out to entrepreneurs to submit practical, innovative ideas for review by a panel of judges at a chance to win a $3,000 summer fellowship to pay them to work on their idea.  

The contest is open to (1) any current student of a Newark area college or university and (2) any Newark regional community member who is proposing to start a new business in Newark, NJ.  Those submitting as community members cannot be full-time students.  

Awards

Program sponsors Capital One and Sterling Medical, provide Innovation Acceleration Fellowships to winners.  The Fellowships allow winners to work on their business ideas, while they participate in the NJIT Summer Lean Start-up Accelerator. 
Initial submission must be four paragraphs (not more than two pages) answering the following questions:

1. What is the problem that this company proposes to solve? (Need)

2. How does the company plan to solve the problem? (Application)

3. How does the company plan to make money from this application? (Value Proposition)

4. What is the competition and what is the competence of the management team? (Competition)  

Finalists will be given time for a ten-minute pitch with PowerPoint slides followed by Q&A. Finals will be held at the NJIT Campus Center, Summit Street, Newark, NJ in the Atrium on Tuesday, December 2nd from 1 to 5 P.M.  

Initial submission must be made online via: https://judithsheft.wufoo.com/forms/2014-newark-innovation-acceleration-challenge/

For more information, click HERE.

Any NIAC questions may be directed to Michael Ehrlich (ehrlich@njit.edu)