Events and Opportunities
Whether you're just curious to learn more about innovation and entrepreneurship or even ready to launch your next business, we have events and opportunities throughout the year to help you make the real-world impact that you envision. Keep up to date on upcoming events, opportunities and deadlines with our newsletters: Sign Up Now
Signature Programs of the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative
Connecting the CU Boulder campus with the Boulder community to develop innovative ideas and pitch for up to $50,000 in venture funding.
Student entrepreneurs with diverse perspectives who embrace the spirit of innovation and impact on campus and in the Boulder community.
A micro-funding opportunity for CU Boulder undergraduate and graduate students that provides up to $500 in funding for entrepreneurial ideas in the making.
A mini job fair that brings entrepreneurially-minded CU Boulder students and local Front Range startups together with a twist.
Join this collaborative event that's all about making positive changes in the world. Whether you have an idea or are someone eager to help those ideas become real, this is the event you don't want to miss.
CU Boulder's entrepreneurial mentor network supports innovative activity on campus led by students, faculty and staff.
Off-Campus Opportunities
Events
Wednesday, Nov. 12: Golden Startup Coffee—A monthly opportunity for entrepreneurs, innovators, creatives and community members to explore Colorado startup journeys.
Wednesday, Nov. 12: Idea Feasibility: Methods to Test Your Business Idea—Answering several key questions will help highlight crucial considerations before you launch and form the beginnings of a business plan. Hosted by Startup Colorado.
Thursday, Nov. 13: Welcome to Boulder Startup Happy Hour—Welcoming anyone new to the Boulder tech and startup scene. Colorado Startups will answer your questions, direct you to resources and help make introductions where appropriate. Plus you’ll meet other community members and individuals new to Boulder.
Thursday, Nov. 13: Foley Hoag Colorado Life Sciences Summit—Join Foley Hoag and the Colorado Bioscience Association for a high-energy Life Sciences Summit—an afternoon of insights, networking and practical strategies. Connect with innovators, founders and industry leaders shaping Colorado’s life sciences future.
Thursday, Nov. 13: Innovation After Hours: Boulder | Quantum Initiatives—Highlighting Colorado’s leadership in the quantum frontier. Hear from ASCEND Engine CEO Mike Freeman, CUbit’s Scott Sternberg and Elevate Quantum’s Jessie Olsen, followed by a panel on expanding Colorado’s commercial quantum ecosystem.
Thursday, Nov. 13: Fall XI Demo Day—See the latest cohort of the XI Accelerator share demos and pitches followed by purposeful networking with founders, mentors, investors and community partners.
Thursday, Nov. 13: Rural Women in Entrepreneurship—Startup Colorado's virtual networking conversation focusing on current projects, story sharing and pooling resources to help reach the "next step" on the long entrepreneurial road ahead.
Thursday, Nov. 13: Innovation After Hours: Boulder Quantum Initiatives—An evening highlighting Colorado’s leadership in the quantum frontier.
Monday, Nov. 17: How to Launch Your Business—Learn about Startup Colorado's checklist of startup essentials from creating a simple business plan and legally registering your company to setting up your finances and landing your first customers.
Monday, Nov. 17: Naturally Colorado's Women in CPG: The Power of Resiliency—Network with women leaders, founders and emerging CPG professionals.
Tuesday, Nov. 18: The Experiment-First PM: Build, Present, Transform (Collab w AI & Product)—Select tech project managers will present experiments they built that same afternoon—and we'll reveal processes and tools that change how all of us work. Sponsored by Colorado Product Meetup.
Thursday, Nov. 20: CBSA Coffee + Connect—Engage with others in Colorado’s life sciences community and spark dynamic relationships with fellow innovators.
Thursday, Nov. 20: Welcome to Denver Startup Happy Hour—Bringing together founders, entrepreneurs and anyone curious about the Denver (and Colorado) startup scene.
Thursday, Nov. 20: NSF ASCEND Engine Portfolio Showcase—Celebrating the collective progress of the ASCEND Engine’s innovation ecosystem—spanning research, commercialization, and workforce development efforts across Colorado and Wyoming.
Thursday, Dec. 4: Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs Certificate Reception—Discover how this online certificate program is designed to open doors for professionals in Colorado’s life science ecosystem by providing critical training in Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs.
Thursday, Dec. 4: Colorado Cleantech Community Impact Celebration—Join industry leaders and innovators for an evening recognizing excellence in Colorado’s cleantech community, celebrating the technologies and entrepreneurs shaping a cleaner energy future.
Wednesday, Dec. 10: CBSA's Finding Success in a Challenging Environment: Biotech & Medtech Symposium—A half-day symposium bringing together leaders, investors and innovators from across Colorado’s life sciences ecosystem, centered on the EY Biotech and Medtech Reports, cornerstone analyses that reveal the realities behind industry headlines.
Thursday, Dec. 11: Welcome to Boulder Startup Happy Hour—Welcoming anyone new to the Boulder tech and startup scene. Colorado Startups will answer your questions, direct you to resources and help make introductions where appropriate. Plus you’ll meet other community members and individuals new to Boulder.
Friday, Dec. 12: Colorado Startup Ski Day—Join the Colorado startup community on the mountain! Open to founders, operators, investors and the startup-curious.
Applications
Monday, Nov. 17 (deadline): Colorado Health Innovation Community (CHIC) Learning Cohort—A collective of Colorado based safety net providers, rural hospitals and clinics, FQHCs, and community based health organizations that works to better address the health of underserved Coloradans through innovation, sponsored by Prime Health.
Monday, Nov. 25 (deadline): Elbow Grease—An 8-week in-person accelerator providing selected AI-centric startups with first-check investment, founder-led mentorship, weekly workshops and access to a lifelong founder community in New York City.
Monday, Dec. 1 (deadline): MedTech Innovator—A a five-month virtual accelerator providing expert mentorship, investor exposure and hands-on commercialization support. Finalists compete live at major industry events for funding, awards,and visibility. Focus on medical technology, life science tools, diagnostics and digital health.
Friday, Dec. 5 (deadline): Ascent Deep Tech Accelerator—An accelerator for research teams building deep tech startups coming out of the University of Colorado campuses in Boulder, Colorado Springs and Denver.
Sunday, Feb. 1 (deadline): Runway Startup Postdocs—Based at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, Runway ushers recent PhDs in digital technology fields from an academic mindset to an entrepreneurial outlook.
Applications open: EnergyTech University Prize–Student teams compete for more than $540,000 for successfully identifying a promising energy technology, assessing its market potential, and creating a business plan for commercialization.
Applications open: The Environmental Sustainability Entrepreneurship Program—A free expert-led cohort to help sustainability ventures. Participants will receive expert-led training, committed mentorship and pitch coaching.
Rolling Application: Activator: 25-26 Cohort—An open-access, equity-free biotech accelerator for early-stage founders.
Rolling Application: Startup Colorado Community and Entrepreneurship Grants–Grants that support rural entrepreneurs who are eager to level up their businesses but need a financial boost to get there.and delivering results.
Rolling Application: OEDIT Advanced Industry Investment Tax Credit—For investors and advanced industries businesses in the amount of 25% to 35% per investment up to $100,000.
Rolling Application: Global Business Development's 2025 Trade Shows–Apply for the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade's funding and trade show participation program.