Innovation & Entrepreneurship Newsletter, Campus Edition, 10/08/25

Oct. 6-10: West Slope Startup Week—Five days of ideas, connection, and collaboration— all celebrating rural entrepreneurs and the communities they call home. Powered by Startup Colorado.

Wednesday, Oct. 8: Smart Mining: Innovation at the Core of the Resource Revolution—As global demand for critical minerals accelerates, the mining sector is evolving through sustainability, automation and digitalization. The first quarterly discussion on important energy issues by Colorado Cleantech's Energy Innovators Network.

Tuesday, Oct. 14: Lunch & Learn: Top Ten Tips For Setting Up Your Company—Covering 10 key areas every founder should know—from leaving a current job and dividing equity to avoiding liability, securing your first term sheet, understanding investor expectations and planning for a successful exit.

Tuesday, Oct. 14: RVC Pitch Academy—A half-day workshop to prepare founders to understand many of the terms and processes used by VCs and sharpen their venture strategy.

Thursday, Oct. 16: CBSA Coffee + Connect—Engage with others in Colorado’s life sciences community and spark dynamic relationships with fellow innovators.

Wednesday, Oct. 22: University of Colorado Lab Venture Challenge Showcases—Teams of top innovators from CU will pitch to a panel of judges and a live audience for grants of up to $125,000—that’s $750,000 in total awards—for their early-stage projects in bio- and physical sciences with compelling market potential.

Wednesday, Oct. 22: BCC Economic Summit—More than 400 decision-makers will gather to explore disruptive technologies, policy shifts and market dynamics. Learn strategies, partnerships and data-driven insights that can help deliver real ROI.

Saturday, Oct. 25: Rocky Mountain ETA Conference—Bringing together search fund entrepreneurs, students, investors, service providers, faculty, and other participants in the ETA ecosystem to connect, learn and share best practices in a growing field. Hosted by hosted by the CU Leeds School of Business  in collaboration with Denver ETA Meetup.

Oct. 27-30: CU Boulder Translational Funding Week: Unlock Funding to Move Your Research or Venture Forward—A series of engaging lunchtime sessions designed to demystify the landscape of non-dilutive funding opportunities that support the journey from lab to market.

Wednesday, Nov. 5: Colorado Impact Hackathon—A one-day innovation sprint where CU Boulder students team up with Google professionals to tackle Colorado's most pressing climate and energy challenges.

Monday, Oct. 13 (deadline): Research & Innovation Seed Grants—Grants of up to $60K for projects from all disciplines at CU Boulder, especially those involving inter- or multidisciplinary collaboration and projects in emerging fields. Projects to establish or leverage external partnerships (e.g. industry, national labs, universities, community nonprofits, etc.) are also welcomed.

Friday, Oct. 10 (deadline): United for Business Primed Accelerator—A 10-week, United Way program designed to help entrepreneurs strengthen operation and refine strategies for strength.

Friday, Oct. 17 (deadline): Alnylam BioVenture Challenge—Designed to support trainee-led ventures translating cutting-edge science into real companies. Finalists will pitch for the $100K Alnylam Science Entrepreneurship Award, plus additional runner-up prizes. Travel and accommodations are fully covered for selected teams.

Monday, Oct. 27 (deadline): United for Business Website Build Initiative—The Website Build Initiative from United for Business and GeekPack helps small business owners create professional, mobile-friendly websites that reflect their brands and support long-term growth.

Thursday, Oct. 30 (deadline): Starting Blocks Customer Discovery Workshop—Offered as part of the National Science Foundation (NSF) I-Corps™ Hub: West Region, this workshop is for anyone from a research or community institution motivated to bring their ideas to life, secure funding and create lasting impact.

Friday, Nov. 7 (deadline): CRI Cohort 2026—This two-year fellowship embeds early-stage startup founders at Argonne to help transform breakthrough science and energy technologies into impactful solutions.

Friday, Nov. 7 (deadline): Innovation Crossroads Cohort 2026—Innovation Crossroads supports and mentors entrepreneurial researchers whose early-stage innovations are presently too challenging or technically uncertain to pursue in a venture capital–financed start-up.

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.