Competitions
- Big Idea Competition
Annual pitch competition that brings the best undergraduate and graduate students together from all disciplines, alongside top research faculty and alumni to pitch the most innovative startups in front of their peers and a panel of esteemed judges for cash scholarship awards.
- UTDesign Startup Challenge
Leveraging the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science’s UTDesign senior capstone course, selected ventures can receive $15,000 of engineering services over one of two semesters, a technical mentor, business coaches, and $5,000 cash to grow their business.
Programs & Partnerships
- Blackstone LaunchPad
Developed as part of the Blackstone Charitable Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Initiative, this global network enables participants to access mentoring, grow their networks, and access resources to accelerate the success of their businesses.
- CometX Accelerator
8-week program helps early-stage student led companies on everything from feasibility, product development, customer engagement, team development, and more.
- Innovate(her)
An award-winning a day-long conference that equips middle school girls with science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) skills for higher education and future careers.
- Venture Coaching
Receive direct, hands-on mentoring from leading Dallas entrepreneurs and investors. Our mentors consist of CEOs, venture capitalists, angel investors, and attorneys who have both foundational expertise and startup experience.
- UT Dallas Seed Fund
Award-winning university fund exclusively for university-affiliated founders. Early-stage businesses with inventions, discoveries, products,or services that have achieved proof of concept (or a prototype) and are ready for commercial product development are encouraged to apply to the fund.
Spaces
- Blackstone LaunchPad
The front-door to entrepreneurship on campus. A co-working and event space that was established with a $1M grant from the charitable foundation of the world’s largest private equity firm. 5,000-square foot multi-purpose collaborative space to inspire, accelerate, and support student entrepreneurship.
- Venture Development Center
Exclusive university incubator designed to help students, faculty, and alumni commercialize their ideas and inventions.
- UTD at the IQ
New, innovative space that will foster corporate innovator and university collaborations, support Richardson and the region’s startup and entrepreneur community, and advance UT Dallas research.
Student Testimonials
Tina Dimitrova
Honors Student, University of Texas at Dallas
The UTD Seed Fund Course has given me the opportunity to gain real world experience in the venture capital space. As an undergraduate, there are not many opportunities available that give you this amount of responsibility and potential for impact. It’s great for anyone interested in entrepreneurship, finance, or investing.
Mindy Tiu
Commercial Leadership Program, General Electric Company
The I&E courses have been extremely valuable for me. I’m learning skill sets that will help me whether I work for a large company or decide to start my own business someday.
Monica Raofpur
Cloud CRM Sales Consultant, Oracle
The entrepreneurship courses I took helped me understand how businesses operate and what it takes to create and deliver a winning business presentation.
Ready to start your undergraduate application?
Before you apply, get familiar with the application process for Jindal School undergraduate programs at UT Dallas.
How to Apply