Every May, Cornell Tech hosts Open Studio, an annual end-of-year celebration of student startups and presentations of cutting-edge research and projects at the New York City campus on Roosevelt Island. The 2024 event, which will take place on May 17 from 3 – 8 p.m., coincides this year with the annual citywide NYCxDESIGN festival.
The 2024 Open Studio event will feature Cornell Tech’s annual Startup Awards, which is the marquee event of the evening. The Startup Awards represent a key milestone in students’ entrepreneurial journey. Ten teams of graduating students in Cornell Tech’s Startup Studio course will pitch ideas for companies they have developed in the course and up to five teams will receive pre-seed funding of $100,000 and coworking space at the Tata Innovation Center. A panel of tech industry leaders and executives, along with members of the Cornell and Cornell Tech faculty and staff, select the winning student teams and they will be announced at the event after the pitch presentations.
Last year’s Startup Award winners included Esger, Fig Medical, Gaia Computer Technologies, and Project B. Fig Medical was recently recognized by Poets & Quants as one of the most disruptive MBA startups in 2023. Project B has also been selected to participate in programming for founders and startups hosted by Newlab and the New York City Economic Development Corporation.
During Open Studio, one of the highlights that visitors will have the opportunity to explore is a showcase of this semester’s projects from INFO 6940 “Participatory Design in Digital Making” taught by Niti Parikh, alongside other innovative endeavors supported by MakerLAB across the campus. Cornell Tech’s MakerLAB is designed to empower students, faculty, and the wider campus community to bring their concepts to life. Equipped with state-of-the-art digital fabrication tools and resources, the MakerLAB facilitates the seamless evolution of ideas from initial sketches to refined prototypes.
The evening rounds out with networking and informal opportunities for students, faculty, industry professionals, and community members to mingle and connect over food and drinks.
Media can RSVP to this event by emailing cornell@berlinrosen.com.
Below is the breakdown of activities and locations throughout the event:
3-4 pm: Faculty and student demos in Extended Reality (XR) and robotics labs as well as presentations of their work throughout campus. Cornell Tech’s MakerLAB, equipped with state-of-the-art digital fabrication tools, will showcase projects from ‘Participatory Design in Digital Making’ alongside other innovative student endeavors. (Tata Innovation Center)
4-5:15 pm: Ten student startup teams will pitch their business ideas to compete for five $100,000 investment grants from Cornell Tech and startup space on campus. A panel of tech industry leaders and executives, along with Cornell Tech faculty and staff, will select the five winning student teams. (Outdoor Tent)
5:30-6:30 pm: Demo spaces will reopen across campus and student “BigCo” teams will present work that resulted from their collaborations with large companies to create tech enabled solutions. (Tata Innovation Center & Verizon Executive Education Center)
6:30-8 pm: The 2024 Cornell Tech Startup Award winners will be announced followed by a networking reception. (Outdoor Tent and Tata Innovation Center)
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