The George Kozmetsky Memorial Student Challenge is an interdisciplinary program that links students from any major/or year in teams to address relevant community problems. The program begins each Fall and generally engages 150 students across the campus. Teams are given problems, research possible solutions, and submit presentations. Top 10 presentations pitch to judges and $15K in prize monies are presented to top solutions. Solutions are shared with communities.

The Harkey Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies is the corner of Main and Main for all undergraduate entrepreneurs at the University of Texas. We support interdisciplinary education and enriched extra-curricular experiences for students at any stage in their entrepreneurial journey. From the Entrepreneurship Minor, to the Undergraduate Mentor Program, there is a resource to get you to your next step.

At the Herb Kelleher Entrepreneurship Center, our dedicated focus is on fostering the growth of entrepreneurial skills and empowering Longhorns to embrace this mindset in their careers, whether through starting their own businesses or driving innovation within established industries. UT founders can tap into the HKEC’s wealth of entrepreneurial resources through our networking and funding opportunities, interactive speaker events, one-on-one mentorship, pitch competitions, and our semester-long practicum, the Forty Acres Founders Program.

Resources for understanding how engaging with industry for your research works at UT Austin and tools to help find industry funding and support.

The Kendra Scott Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute (KS WELI) supports creatives, founders, leaders, and allies by redefining leadership and entrepreneurship. KS WELI equips and empowers students of all backgrounds through engaging programming and events, spotlighting women-led businesses through the FoundHER Program, and sponsoring interdisciplinary courses within the McCombs Entrepreneurship Minor. Since its founding, KS WELI has become a force on UT’s campus to grow and support the number of women-owned and women-led businesses.

The LaunchPad at UT Austin is a resource hub that helps all undergraduate and graduate students explore entrepreneurship at UT. We help students identify where they are in their entrepreneurial journey – Explore, Ideate, Create, or Scale – then educate and connect them to resources across campus and in Austin. LaunchPad resources include events, coworking space, funding, bootcamps, accelerators, and other programs. We are a proud member of the global Blackstone LaunchPad Network of 46+ campuses.

The Longhorn Impact Fellowship at Texas provides UT-Austin students with impact-focused consulting experience. Selected Fellows are placed with sustainable corporations, start-ups, and nonprofits to solve sustainability challenges. Projects are completed in 10-12 weeks and must be related to sustainability, corporate philanthropy, impact/ESG investing, or social and environmental innovation. Scholarships are available for students with financial need.

Longhorn Startup Lab is a joint program with Capital Factory that allows student entrepreneurs to work on their startup under the guidance of successful mentors and provides students with a vast network they can use to accelerate growth. The Longhorn Startup Seminar is a semester-long class that brings guest speakers in to introduce students to the world of entrepreneurship. It is designed as a beginner course and students do not need a startup idea to be involved.

March Economic Madness is an interscholastic competition, building on our internal student challenge, that provides university students an opportunity to form teams and compete across universities to develop fitted and beneficial solutions for real community problems. A two-tiered selection process is used, first at each university, then between universities for top teams. Presentations will be delivered online with no need for travel. Cash awards are provided to top teams.

The McCombs Entrepreneur Summer Fellowship (MESF), funded by the generous support of alumni donors and the Harkey Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, enables innovative students to continue building their startups during the summer. Full-time undergraduate students from majors both in and outside of McCombs, and with four semesters of course work who are actively working on a startup are eligible to apply. Applicants working on any stage of startup development from ideation to scaling are eligible to apply.