You’ve built something and people keep asking about it
A tool, an app, a model, a method. If the questions have started, so has the company.
Apply →GR DeepTech · Innovation Day 2026
Pitch your idea.We’ll help it grow.
Apply for five minutes on stage at the annual College of Computing Innovation Day to pitch your business idea, research innovation, or product. The College of Computing will put student teams, faculty, and mentors behind the winners. Open to computing students and faculty at GVSU and affiliated community colleges.
Tuesday, December 8, 2026 · Five pitches · Three awards
Expression of interest due November 6 · Full application Sunday, November 22
Matt Larson pitching Vanly — December 2025 winner.
What Grand Valley puts behind you
You bring the idea. We bring the rest.
Student build teams
Capstone squads and the Applied Computing Institute, building alongside you for a semester.
Faculty expertise
College of Computing researchers who know your hard problem already, and can help connect your venture to their labs and grants.
Mentors from the West Michigan ecosystem
Operators and founders who have shipped, raised, and sold before.
A coworking membership for the overall winner
A year of desk space downtown, in a room full of people building companies.
A path into SBIR/STTR federal funding
Non-dilutive federal research dollars, guidance through the application, and referral to I-Corps for promising teams.
A stage in front of investors and operators
Our Fall 2025 judges: Jim Hackett, Grand Ventures, Rapids Ventures, Michigan Software Labs, BizStream, and Array of Engineers.
Grand Valley wants its people to start companies that last. Everything here — the workshops, the build teams, the mentors, the stage — exists to get your idea there.
“‘Deep tech’ isn’t a requirement. Substance is. Show us a real problem, the technology that solves it, and why you’re the one to build it.”
Who can apply
Computing students and faculty only.
Computing students (undergraduate or graduate) and computing faculty at the GVSU College of Computing and affiliated community colleges. Teams or individuals. No company required, no prototype required, no pitch experience needed.
Apply to pitchAny stage counts:
- a question you can't stop thinking about
- a prototype that lives on your laptop
- a product with its first users
- a company ready for its next step
From research to venture
Built on College of Computing research.
Faculty labs, funded projects, and student research are a natural starting point. Promising teams may be referred to I-Corps and guided toward federal funding.
Intro to Tech Entrepreneurship, CIS 280 / 580, Winter 2027 →
Awards
Three awards.
Overall Award
The strongest pitch and the strongest case for a venture.
Cash prize (amount TBA) + a coworking membership.
Runner-up Award
The second-strongest pitch of the night.
Cash prize (amount TBA).
Breakthrough Pitch Award
The most promising idea at its earliest stage.
Cash prize (amount TBA).
Only the Overall Award includes the coworking membership. Prize amounts are announced once sponsorships are confirmed.
Applications
Express interest by November 6 · Full application by Sunday, November 22