Events and Opportunities
Signature Programs of the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative
Connecting the CU Boulder campus with the Boulder community to develop innovative ideas and pitch for more than $200,000 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 series of mini job fairs that connect entrepreneurially-minded CU Boulder students to high growth companies in Colorado.
CU Boulder's entrepreneurial mentor network supports innovative activity on campus led by students, faculty and staff.
Want to promote your event?
If you’d like to promote your event in the feed below, please contact karen.reid@colorado.edu or simply tag your event using the Innovation & Entrepreneurship group in CU Boulder’s Localist event calendar.
Off-Campus Opportunities
Events
Thursday, Sept. 10: Nucleate's Flagship Activator Program Info Session (virtual)—For passionate biotech founders tackling the biggest challenges in human health and sustainability. Learn about a free, non-dilutive accelerator that supports academic trainees, including PhDs, MDs, MBAs, JDs, MSs, and postdocs.
Thursday, Sept. 10: Welcome to Boulder—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, Sept. 10: BEN's Growth Capital Strategy Workshop—How to determine if and when you should raise growth capital. For founders with any stage business.
Thursday, Sept. 10: Innosphere's Boulder Lunch and Learn: From Lab to Launch—Practical Strategies for University Spinouts—Early-stage startups can learn about legal, licensing and operational considerations involved in spinning a company out of a university, along with the common pitfalls and key questions founders should address early with the university, investors and legal counsel to build a strong foundation for growth.
Friday, Sept. 11: Rural Women in Entrepreneurship September Meetup—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. Featuring Katy Martin, founder of Joyful Design Co.
Monday, Sept. 14: CU Innovation Day—Kick off Colorado Startup Week with CU Innovation Day, a gathering of founders, researchers, and creative leaders from across the University of Colorado system and industry partners. This year's program includes keynotes from world class innovators; a focus on CU & the Future of the Arts in the Rocky Mountain West; leaders from higher education and the creative sector; and Innovation Hall which will host 50+ CU ventures and innovation programs.
Sept. 14-18: Colorado Startup Week—Bringing together more than 10,000 founders, investors, creatives and changemakers for a week of learning, inspiration and connection. Free.
Monday, Sept. 14: Future of Energy Day—Bringing together Colorado’s clean energy and climate technology community during Colorado Startup Week. Seed and pre-seed cleantech founders will have the opportunity to connect directly with investors through investor office hours and speed networking. Hosted by Colorado Cleantech.
Sept. 15-17, Denver, CO: HOPE2Women's Annual Founder Summit—A three-day event to map the next twelve months, pressure-test it with women building alongside you and leave knowing exactly what you do next.
Wednesday, Sept. 16: Powering Your Startup Through the Science of Happiness—Join Ashish Kothari, Founder and CEO of Happiness Squad, for a session on making flourishing a competitive advantage. Presented at Colorado Startup Week and facilitated by Jo Ann Hair, Executive Director of 1000 Gretas.
Wednesday, Sept. 16: Rural Creative Connections (virtual)—Featuring co-hosts Jill Knuckles and Lise Poulsen from the 2026 Mountain and Valley Fiber Arts Festival (MVFAF). Hosted by Startup Colorado.
Thursday, Sept. 17: Colorado Capital: Funding Opportunities You May Be Missing Out On (virtual)—OEDIT Accounting & Operations Manager Crystal Walsh will explain OEDIT’s Venture Capital Authority Program, which provides seed and early-stage startups $50,000 up to $1 million in investment capital. Hosted by Startup Colorado.
Thursday, Sept. 17: Innovation After Hours Signature Edition—The Milken Institute delivers a data-driven keynote benchmarking Colorado against peer hubs like Austin, Seattle, and the Research Triangle, followed by a fireside chat with leaders from ASCEND, Colorado BioScience, Elevate Quantum and the Colorado Space Coalition.
Thursday, Sept. 17: The Leader Within: Strength Through Change Featuring Kelly Brough—Kelly will reflect on the decisions, transitions, and experiences that have shaped how she leads today.
Friday, Sept. 18: Colorado Startup Hike—Do you like being outside? How about on a Friday morning when the trails aren’t packed? Startup Hikes is a series designed to help you meet and get to know other local startup founders, operators, investors, and community members. Whether you’ve been in Colorado forever or just moved here, see some familiar faces and meet new ones.
Monday, Sept. 28: Silicon Flatirons Startup Variety Show–‘The Show’ stitches together the startup scene, CU Boulder, innovators from the Federal Labs and technologists from incumbent technology companies. This session features established and emerging players in the Colorado aerospace industry exploring how startups and other innovators are contributing to the rapidly-advancing final frontier of exploration.
Tuesday, Sept. 29: Tech Stars September Virtual Meet and Greet—Learn about the Tech Stars accelerators and open dates and hear tips for the application process.
Sept. 30—Oct. 2: 2026 Rocky Mountain Life Sciences Investor & Partnering Conference—Connecting investors, strategic partners, founders and ecosystem leaders in a focused, relationship-driven environment designed to support meaningful capital engagement.
Oct. 5-9: West Slope Startup Week 2026—A weeklong event for rural entrepreneurs, creatives, and community leaders—powered by local passion and built for connection. Hosted by Startup Colorado.
Oct. 5-Nov. 9: Colorado BioScience Institute Foundations of Leadership—A six-week professional development program designed specifically for emerging and aspiring leaders across Colorado's life sciences ecosystem.
Tuesday, Oct. 6: Boulder Chamber Economic Summit—Join more than 300 business, community, education, research, and government leaders for a dynamic half-day summit exploring the forces reshaping our economy—and the opportunities emerging from them.
Wednesday, Oct. 7: 2026 Oil & Gas Cleantech Challenge—A technology-scouting competition that fast-tracks clean-tech solutions into the oil and natural-gas value chain. Finalists will pitch live to leading operators, service companies, and investors—gaining exposure, feedback and potential partnership opportunities.
Oct. 8-9: CU Boulder Sustainability Research Summit—A free, public event showcasing the breadth and depth of sustainability research.
Wednesday, Oct. 21: Prime Health's 2026 Health Innovation Summit: From Disruption to Discovery—Bringing together partners from across the Prime Health ecosystem to explore how evolving shifts in health systems are shaping the safety-net, and to uncover new opportunities for innovators to discover, align and take action.
Oct. 21-22: Lab Venture Challenge Showcases—Teams of top innovators from the University of Colorado will pitch to a panel of judges and a live audience for a share of more than $1 million in grants for their early-stage projects in bio- and physical sciences with compelling market potential.
Oct. 30-Nov. 1: Rural Women in Entrepreneurship Retreat—A small, in-person gathering hosted by Startup Colorado for women who are building, leading, creating, and supporting businesses in rural Colorado. Limited to 20 participants.
Saturday, Nov. 7: 2026 Rocky Mountain ETA Conference—Bringing together acquisition entrepreneurs, students, investors, service providers, faculty and other participants in the ETA ecosystem to connect and share best practices.
Friday, Dec. 11: Colorado Startup Ski Days—Join the Colorado startup community on the mountain! Open to founders, operators, investors and the startup-curious. Upcoming Ski Days: Jan. 15, Feb. 5, Feb. 19, March 26, April 16.
Applications
Thursday, Sept. 10 (deadline): Department of Energy (DOE) Phase I Genesis Mission Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Solicitation—Eligible small businesses may submit up to three pitches that align with one of four topics to receive an invite to submit a full proposal for an award up to $250,000.
Monday, Sept. 14 (deadline): 2026 Gates Grubstake Funding Opportunity Application—A total of $1.5M is available to support multiple projects focused on regenerative medicines and cell/gene therapies. Individual project award amounts will vary based on funding needs. For University of Colorado Anschutz investigators and external collaborators.
Friday, Sept. 18 (deadline): Startup Colorado's Idea Factory Accelerator—A 4-week accelerator program tailored for early-stage entrepreneurs ready to transform their innovative ideas into actionable, launch-ready plans.
Monday, Sept. 21 (deadline): IEEE Photonics Society Invites Startups to Showcase Their Technologies—Open to startups developing products and solutions based on optical and photonic integrated circuits technologies.
Friday, Sept. 25 (deadline): U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II—Open to DOE SBIR Phase I awardees from fiscal years 2024 or 2025, and Phase II awards up to $2 million from one of six topics.
Friday, Oct. 30 (deadline): Activate Fellowship—For entrepreneurial scientists, providing the mindsets, skills, networks and support needed to turn breakthrough hard tech into real-world impact.
Nov. 4, March 4 (deadlines): U.S. National Science Foundation’s Pilot Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I, Phase II, Fast-Track Programs—Supports startups and small businesses developing scientific tools and technologies that advance discovery and strengthen the U.S. research enterprise.
Nov. 4, March 4 (deadlines): U.S. National Science Foundation’s Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I, Phase II, Fast-Track Programs—Deep Technologies that Advance U.S. Competitiveness and Security: Supports startups and small businesses in transforming high-risk technologies into products and services that drive innovation, economic growth and jobs. Pilot Emphasis on Scientific Instrumentation: Supports startups and small businesses developing scientific tools and technologies that advance discovery and strengthen the U.S. research enterprise.
Wednesday, Nov. 18 (deadline): Techstars' Spring 2027 Accelerators—$220,000 investment to fuel your growth, expert guidance and lifetime access to 11,000+ founders and investors worldwide.
Monday, Nov. 23 (deadline): Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation's (BIRD) General Program—Conditional grants up to $1.5 million for jointly developed, commercially promising technology projects between one U.S. company and one Israeli company across sectors including advanced manufacturing, cybersecurity, cleantech and life sciences.
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.