$8500 in cash prizes available!!
From Incubator Works,
ALFRED, NY – We are just days away from the 5th annual Allegany County Startup Collegiate Competition hosted by Alfred State College on Saturday, April 12, 2025. To help cultivate the next “AHA!” moment, IncubatorWorks’ organizes a collegiate competition each year with students from Allegany County’s three institutions of higher education – Alfred State College, Houghton University, and Alfred University. The teams pitch at the chance to win first place prize of $5,000, second place prize of $2,500, and third place prize of $1,000. Prizes are made possible through sponsorship of the Center for Advanced Ceramic and Technology at Alfred University. The event will be streaming live on Alfred State College’s YouTube page from 1 pm – 3 pm at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/@AlfredStateCollege/streams
YouTube viewers can join in the fun and vote for their favorite team for “Viewer’s Choice Award!”, where the team with the most votes wins $250.
The teams of undergraduate students have been working hard to identify a business need in our area and how they would solve a problem for their customers and turn that into a viable business. Students have had the guidance of knowledgeable industry and academic mentors along the way.
Teams of students present their business ideas, with the winning pitches determined by a panel of judges. There is $8,500 in cash prizes available; top winners will receive cash toward the launch of their business as well as in-kind donations of professional services.
One of last year’s participants Montana Weidman, from Alfred University said, “My favorite part of the process was deconstructing how I think as an engineer and reconstructing as how I would think as a businessperson.”
The mission of this competition is to cultivate the entrepreneurial spirit of our college students while helping solve some of the challenges of the area and develop small businesses. Teams are encouraged to be cross disciplinary in educational focus to utilize different viewpoints while developing their ideas. The goal is to encourage young professionals to build their future in Allegany County and the surrounding areas after graduation.
Last year’s first place winner Caleb Lesswing and Montana Weidman were provided with an additional prize of rent-free space in the Alfred Incubator for 6 months. Caleb along with his new partner continues to develop the business idea of a glass sciences technology, that was pitched at AHA! with Vitrum Everlasting.
The competition is made possible through a committee of partners from Alfred University, Houghton University, Alfred State College, IncubatorWorks, Allegany County, Western NY Wilds, the ACCORD Corporation, and the Western New York Incubator Network. Special thanks to our event sponsors, Alfred State College, The Center for Advanced Ceramic Technology (CACT) at Alfred University, Sealing Devices Inc., and the School of Business for Alfred University. Email kbarres@incworks.org for more information.
