Entrepreneurship & Innovation News and Updates

The 2026 TIA Summer Accelerator offers student entrepreneurs a hybrid program of intensive on-campus training and remote work to bridge the gap between initial ideas and real-world execution. Participating ventures receive up to $8,250 in funding alongside professional mentorship and a structured community designed to help them refine business models and achieve sustainable growth.

Four student-led ventures — MajiSafi Solutions, PLNT, Omnicent, and EchoScape — have been selected to pitch for a $10,000 top prize at the 2026 TIA Entrepreneur Showcase during Colgate University’s Arts, Creativity, and Innovation Weekend on April 11.

Mike Ahearn Wilcox shares how EchoScape evolved from an audio-only game concept into a meditative sound experience controlled with a PS5 DualSense controller. Living with anxiety, he found that physically manipulating sound effects helped him stay present during meditation. He expanded the project into a three-day exhibit in The Vault, combining 360-degree spatial audio, programmable lighting, and calming set pieces to deepen the experience. Feedback from visitors was overwhelmingly positive, and Mike is now developing EchoScape into a larger-scale app and venture product.

The 2026 Social Justice Summit, held as part of the MLK commemoration series, brought together students, faculty, and staff from universities across New York state for a day of learning and reflection. Presenters from the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation explored how social justice can take shape through social entrepreneurship, the preservation of queer history through archives and oral stories, and climate wellness strategies that support sustainable advocacy. The summit emphasized that change is strengthened when purpose, memory, and collective care are put into action.

The TIA Incubator weekend of 2026 brought together student venture pitches and a keynote from John Hill of Whop, who shared his journey from sports journalism to entrepreneurship. Through stories of building networks, partnerships, and student-focused programs, Hill highlighted the value of resilience, collaboration, and adaptability. The session left students motivated to strengthen their ideas and pursue meaningful, community-driven ventures.

Sophomore Connections explores how different career paths may unfold. For the entrepreneurship panel, the focus is less on starting something new and more about learning how to move forward when the path isn’t clear.

Creative Endeavors helps students and community members alike explore their creativity and understand the structures needed to sustain it.

TIA Incubator participants were given a taste of what it takes to build a venture from scratch during the annual Gingerbread Pitch Competition, with a few curveballs thrown in for good measure from Entrepreneur in Residence Jen Martin.

Colgate’s Innovation Fellows is a community of student consultants who research common issues on campus and collaborate to solve them. This program is not simply a class or a club; it pioneers meaningful change on a small scale.

Ghana has an abundance of waste, and a dearth of resources. A new course on social entrepreneurship has inspired Bob Aboh ’28 to develop and pursue a couple of ideas aimed at helping Ghana stem the tide of plastic waste.