Business Innovation Challenge

Accept The 2023 Business Innovation Challenge and Make A Difference!

Innovative Ideas With Social Impact

This spring the 2023 Business Innovation Challenge invites students to bring their ingenuity, entrepreneurial mindset, passion and innovative thinking to identify problems that face communities in need, and to develop sustainable business ideas that will solve those problems and positively impact the community.

Focus on Health This Year

We encourage you to focus your energies on innovative ideas that can improve health or address health-related issues. Feel free, however, to focus on any Innovative ideas that you are passionate about!

group of students working together

Components of The Challenge

The Business Innovation Challenge will consist of six workshops and two rounds of competition, all designed to help you learn how to grow your idea. All students and ideas are welcome.

6 Workshops

Participation in the workshops is not mandatoryto compete in the competition rounds, but is highly encouraged!

To add your name to our information distribution list, please complete the Business Innovation Challenge interest form.

Questions? Please email Laurence Lew at lewlaurence@fhda.edu.

INSPIRE: Wednesday, April 26, 3-4:30 p.m. in Hearthside Lounge (2313)

Speakers: Lia Fernandez-Grinshpun, Yash Gandhi, Georgina Fakoukaki, Tatiana Fakoukaki

Be inspired to join the challenge! You’ll hear student success stories from past years and receive detailed instructions about the event series and the competition.

DESIGN: Wednesday, May 3, 3-4:30 p.m., Krause Center of Innovation, 4006

Speaker: Ravi Pamnani

Attend a workshop on Design Thinking, a leading methodology for solving problems, and designing sustainable business solutions, through creativity and a human-centered approach.

IDEA TEAM FORMING: Wednesday, May 10, 3-4:30 p.m. in Hearthside Lounge (2123)

Join us for a dynamic team-making workshop designed to help you find an ideal team or build your own team from scratch. You’ll learn how to leverage the diverse skills and perspectives of your team members to produce unique and effective solutions to complex challenges.

BUILD: Wednesday, May 17, 3-4:30 p.m., Hearthside Lounge (2313)

Speaker: TBD

Learn how to build cool, useful, and create prototypes using cardboard. In this hands-on interactive session, you learn the tips and tricks to building and working with cardboard. Save those Amazon boxes.

PITCH: Wednesday, May 24, 3-4:30 p.m. in Hearthside Lounge (2313)

Speaker: Brian Sparkes

Get exposed to the art of the “Elevator Pitch”, and learn the fundamental components of how to communicate your idea to an audience in a persuasive and concise manner

PITCH PRACTICE: Wednesday, June 7, 3-4:30 p.m. in Room 3015

Improve your presentation skills, making it easier to pitch your ideas for challenges. This practice can help communicate your ideas effectively to judges. By attending the practice session, you'll be better prepared to showcase the value of your innovations and convince others to get on board.

Save the Competition Dates!

Present your innovative ideas, both for-profit and nonprofit, that address social issues.

Submission Round on Friday, May 12 — Submit Ideas Online

Share and submit a brief description of your idea in a few sentences, outlining its main features and potential impact.

Challenge Round on Friday, June 9 • Noon–5 p.m. • PSEC Quad

The Challenge portion of the Business Innovation Challenge will consist of two rounds.

Round 1: Teams will share their ideas in a poster board session.

Round 2: In a Shark Tank style session, six selected top teams from Round 1 will present their ideas live in front of a panel of distinguished judges.

Business Innovation Challenge Awards

Winners will receive cash prizes to fund your projects or continuing education!

First Place $1500
Second Place $700
Third Place $300

All participants will receive digital badges of participation for your digital portfolios.

Who Can Participate?

Students from all majors are encouraged to participate. All you need is passion to improve your community, a desire to solve problems, and interest in learning how to develop business ideas. Training will be offered to interested students on how to approach the Challenge, and will expose students to the needed skills to succeed!

What Support Will I Get?

A series of workshops will be offered during the Spring quarter to expose you to the requisite skills to develop ideas from conceptual sparks in your brain into real solutions that make a difference!

Learn how to design your solution, how to build a proof-of-concept of your solution, and how to pitch your solution in these workshops conducted by industry leaders! Check out the details in the workshop schedule below.

Why Should I Join?

Students who participate in The Business Innovation Challenge will learn important skills, such as how to develop a business concept, how to communicate to an audience, as well as how to think critically and innovatively.

Most importantly, students will work collaboratively towards making a positive difference in your community!

How Do I Get Started?

If you are interested in joining the competition, please fill out a brief BIC 2023 Interest Form and you will receive further information about what to do next.

Testimonials from Past Participants

Competing in BIC was incredibly beneficial for an aspiring entrepreneur; it allowed me to dive deeper into a topic I was passionate about, build out a business plan and get real-time feedback and validation, and learn from like-minded peers, investors, and other industry experts.

Lia Fernandez—Foothill College, 2nd Year, 1st Place Winner 2022 Business Innovation Challenge

Read all Testimonials

We invite you to accept the Challenge! You'll be glad you did!

Join The Community

Use these links to join the Business Innovation Challenge community!

Canvas Shell

The Business Innovation Challenge Canvas Shell is the primary collaboration space for our innovators. Join this space to participate in The Business Innovation Challenge.

Discord Server

Join our Business & Entrepreneurship Club BEC Discord to connect with other student innovators to form teams, get ideas, and have discussions to improve your innovations

Interest form

Complete the Business Innovation Challenge Interest Form to get on our mailing list and get informed about all events and activities

Instagram

Sponsored by the Business & Entrepreneurship Club and the Business & Social Sciences Workforce Development.

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