The Texas Innovation Center offers a personalized environment for faculty and students to explore entrepreneurship that includes educational workshops, speaker series, coaching sessions, and direct guidance for technology commercialization pathways; from ideation to market validation to fundraising. We accomplish this through Startup-In-A-Box Resources, TxIC Friends and Mentors Network, Innovation Lab, and co-working space. A place to inspire, create and commercialize.

Texas Inventionworks (TIW) supports physical prototypes from idea to first article for curriculum, competition teams, research, commercialization and student-led projects.  The staff can help with almost any physical product. Visitors learn to run machines and do the work using 3D printers, laser cutters, wood and metal working, electronics and wireless. It is open to engineering students and via qualified classes or projects for other students, faculty and staff. Please connect to learn more.

The Texas Student Research Showdown is a video competition for undergraduate researchers at The University of Texas at Austin. Student researchers create videos communicating their research or creative activity to a general audience. As selected by a panel of faculty judges, the top videos receive monetary awards, as does an audience choice winner selected by UT students. The Office of Undergraduate Research offers support at every step of the process.

Founded in 2010, the Texas Venture Labs Accelerator is a zero-cost, zero equity program that connects Texas startups with multi-disciplinary graduate student teams. These students provide up to 200 hours of high impact business consulting each spring and fall semester. We accept applications from both early stage and growth stage startups who can clearly define meaningful projects to help accelerate growth and are committed to engaging with the student team.

The Texas Venture Labs Investment Competition provides UT System graduate students the opportunity to compete for cash prizes while pitching new business ideas. They also receive invaluable feedback from panels of judges comprised of industry experts, entrepreneurs, and investors. Many competitors launch their businesses while others leverage the experience in careers as leaders in their fields. Awards include best three finalists, elevator pitches, healthcare innovation, and military veteran-led.

The Three Minute Thesis competition celebrates the exciting research conducted by graduate students. Developed by The University of Queensland (UQ), the exercise cultivates students’ academic, presentation, and research communication skills. The competition supports their capacity to effectively explain their research in three minutes, in a language appropriate to a non-specialist audience.