Competitions and Prizes

Venture competitions

Ideas Competition

The Ideas Competition is your first stop towards learning how to develop an idea into a new venture and to pitch for support. Eligible Tufts community members can take advantage of our flight of five “Getting started” Jumbo Cafe workshops as well as pop-up coaching and pitch practice to help them pick a problem they are passionate about, and learn the process of developing a venture idea that culminates in a 2-minute pitch included in the application. 6 finalists will be selected to present live in front of experienced judges. Winning teams are eligible to win cash prizes up to $1000.

 

$100k New Ventures Competition

The annual $100k Ventures Competition is the flagship entrepreneurship competition on campus. It is designed to help early stage innovators and entrepreneurs build their ventures through workshops, coaching and equity-free prizes valued at over $100,000 in three tracks: General Technology, Social Impact, and Medical Devices & Life Science.

 

Entrepreneurial prizes

Montle Prize

Paul Montle (Class of 1969) created the annual The Paul and Elizabeth Montle Prize for Entrepreneurial Achievement to commend Tufts undergraduate students who demonstrate outstanding entrepreneurial skills. The award helps kick-start future leaders in the business and nonprofit world. As a token of gratitude, the winners not only accept the monetary prize, but accept a future commitment to give back to Tufts University. Winners will be awarded a total of $35,000 which will be divided between multiple winners.

 

Ricci Prize

The Stephen and Geraldine Ricci Interdisciplinary Prize is awarded annually within the $100k New Ventures Competition. The purpose of the prize is to promote the advancement of research at Tufts through projects that assist in translation of research discoveries from the laboratory to applications that benefit society. To win the prize, you must demonstrate the commercial potential of the technology within your application. Winners are selected that best demonstrate interdisciplinary engineering design and entrepreneurial spirit in their venture. Additional eligibility requirements apply.

Prize: A cash prize of $15,000, split evenly among the student team members.

FNII Prize

The FNII Prize is an annual prize awarded at the Tufts $100K Entrepreneurship Competition. For 2021, qualifying teams entering the Tufts $100K will be invited to also compete for the FNII Prize. The FNII Prize is available to any team that is focused on the intersection of food and nutrition, health, environment, and equity. Additional eligibility requirements apply.

Prize: A cash prize of $10,000 as well as in-kind services including legal services and more.