Stories & Updates

The MakerGym sits at the intersection of creativity, design, fabrication and impact. This fall’s batch of Make It Happen Challenge award winners show the breadth of projects that can come to life with some thinking and tinkering. 

After a record number of team submissions, the finalists for Hen Hatch 2021, University of Delaware’s much-anticipated premier startup competition, have been announced. The submissions this year have been from a wide range of industries, colleges, and interests. 

Horn Entrepreneurship held its 2021 Fall Pitch Party virtually this past Wednesday. In this event, students are able to pitch ideas for business ventures with the possibility of winning awards and prizes.

Photo by Evan Krape

Do you have a unique idea for a potential business and want to get feedback, exposure, and funding to further develop it? If so, Horn Entrepreneurship’s Hen Hatch competition could be a perfect opportunity for you! Through the Hen Hatch startup funding competition, UD students are able to share their business concepts with accomplished industry professionals, making connections, gathering feedback and gaining experience all the way through. On top of the value that the feedback and experience offer, the top teams selected by our panel of judges will receive a combined total of over $50,000 in funding and prizes. Start your application today!

University of Delaware startups GetPotluck and TheraV won a total of $40,000 at the 2021 Startup302 competition, a Delaware-based funding competition for technology-enabled startups led by underrepresented founders.

The MakerGym got off to a quiet but impactful start this past spring semester with the introduction of the Make It Happen Challenge. The inaugural cohort successfully completed work that further advanced their innovative product ideas. The challenge is designed to assist those students with design, funding or fabrication help and to gain access to the training, tools, materials and mentoring needed. The Make It Happen Challenge is co-presented by the UD MakerGym and Horn Entrepreneurship in both spring and fall semesters.

Horn Entrepreneurship held its 2021 Spring Pitch Party virtually this past Wednesday, an event where students were able to pitch ideas for business ventures with the possibility of winning awards and prizes.

Horn Entrepreneurship and eClub welcome alumni Lily Wolfe, Brianna Bannach, and Farhad Baqi as judges for this year's Spring Pitch Party on March 31 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. over Zoom! Join the audience and spectate as UD student teams pitch innovative ventures for a total of $1,500 in funding and resources.

University of Delaware student teams were awarded more than $5000 to use in design, prototyping and fabrication of their projects.

The inaugural Spring 2021 Make It Happen Challenge showcased students from across the University with one thing in common: a desire to bring their ideas to life. The Challenge, presented by UD MakerGym and Horn Entrepreneurship, is a University-wide, semester-long student design competition that provides grants for making and innovation, targeting ideation, proof of concept, prototyping or small batch production. In addition to financial support, students receive training, tools, materials and mentoring.