HCC PitchFest Competition & EXPO

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HCC PitchFest Competition & EXPO

HCC Spring 2025 PitchFest competition & Expo is designed for students to share their creative ideas and innovation projects.

All Creative Ideas & Innovations Are Welcome!

The HCC PitchFest Competition for Spring 2025 allows students to share their creative ideas and innovations.

Up to $3,000 for cash prizes sponsored by Southwest Center for Entrepreneurship!

The competition is designed to explore innovative approaches to answering pressing societal needs and spark an atmosphere of social dialogue and community. Students must complete a simple application regarding their idea that addresses one of the categories listed below:

HCC PitchFest Competition accepts student projects/startups from midnight from February 21  to March 25!

The competition Finalists' Presentation and Awards Ceremony will be held at the West Loop Campus on Friday, March 28, 2024, between 1 pm to 3 pm. Note: On the same day, a Student Showcase Expo will occur from 10 am to 12 pm, and Lunch and Learn Panels from 12 pm to 1:00 pm.

The HCC PitchFest Competition aims to provide financial and institutional support for students who want to impact the world through entrepreneurship. HCC is eager to harness the creativity and passion of Houston's student body to catalyze social change.

Note: Click on the ⊕ icon to see more

More about the competition

General information

The HCC PitchFest competition is designed for students to share and showcase their creative ideas and innovation projects. Individuals or teams can compete in the competition by delivering a pitch to a panel of judges. Students should pitch a product or service that explores innovative approaches to answering pressing sustainability and societal needs.

 

Schedule of Workshops/Training events

PITCHFEST@HCC On-Demand Training Sessions YouTube Playlist URL

Sessions:

IDEATION Training by Accenture's Innovation Director, Summer Reeves! 

Learn:

  • Sources of information and research
  • Process for coming up with great ideas
  • Learn about Design Thinking 

About Speaker: Summer Reeves is the Innovation Center Director for Accenture’s Houston Innovation Hub. Her teams work with clients daily to identify their challenges, provide industry thought leadership, and visualize how cutting-edge technology is applied, enabling organizations to accelerate their innovation and transformation agendas. Summer has over 13 years of experience in digital product design with a heavy focus on design thinking methods and user experience practices.

PRESENTATION Training by HCC Foundation's Board President, David Regenbaum!

Learn:

  • What is a Pitch?
  • Tips and Suggestions on Pitching an Idea
  • Examples of great pitches

About Speaker: David Regenbaum serves as the Entrepreneur in Residence for Houston Community College’s Center for Entrepreneurship and is the Vice President of the Houston Community College Foundation.  He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Silver Fox Advisors and is the Managing Member of AMI Institute, LLC.   He was previously the CEO and Co-Founder (with his wife) of Association Management, Inc. (AMI), a successful community association management company that he sold in 2014, and he practiced as an attorney in South Africa until he immigrated to the USA in 1979.

LEAN STARTUP WEBINAR Training by SCORE Education VP, Jim O'Sullivan!

Learn:

  • What is a Lean Startup?
  • Tips and Suggestions on its use
  • dos and don’ts of its application

About Speaker: Jim O'Sullivan, SCORE Mentor; VP Education Jim O’Sullivan is a retired CTO from an Energy Fortune 500 company with a broad range of expertise in technology, strategy, product development, marketing, and mentoring/coaching. He is associated with several incubator and accelerator programs in Houston through mentoring and business plan judging. He holds three engineering degrees and an MBA.

 

SPRING@2025 Live Sessions: 

  1. CCIC at HCC - Student Innovation Challenge 
  2. How to Build and Train your AI Models

 

 

 

Judging Criteria

The criteria are based on solving the societal need that has high impact (affects many), sustainable (Eco-friendly/Green), creates value or fills a gap, and can (or has) be prototyped, tested, or validated.

Ideas will be judged on the following primary criteria:

  • Social Impact (Number of people impacted or lives affected)
  • Economic Impact (value creation)
  • Environmental Impact (Sustainability/Green Footprint)
  • Completeness/Delivery(Presentation/Team)
  • The originality of Idea (Ownership/IP by the student(s))

 

Student requirements

1. Provide a Pitch Presentation. 
(Download a sample template)

2. Provide a Visual Concept of the idea, if applicable

  • Photo/Drawing/Other
  • 3d Printed Sample or design

 3. Develop a short video* pitch (Optional - but recommended)

  • Post it on YouTube as a public video or an unlisted video

*Need help recording your pitch?

Visit the HCC One Button Studio at any of the following campus libraries:

  • HCC Spring Branch Campus
  • HCC Central Campus Library
  • HCC Alief Hayes - West Houston Insititute Learning Commons

 

Hear from former contestants:

 

See Past Presentation and Award Ceremony

 

Student National and Global Competition Winners

 

 

READY? Let's Go

Complete the PitchFest Competition Application Below:

Please read the instructions carefully and stay within the guidelines.

HCC reserves the right to disqualify any miscategorized or incomplete entries.

NOTE: If you are selected as a winner and awarded cash prizes and/or an internship and/or access to an accelerator program, please be aware that you are responsible for making the necessary arrangements to commence the opportunity in a timely manner. Once you start your opportunity, it is understood that you will abide by the terms and conditions of the program as required by your host organization.

Furthermore, by participating in the competition, you agree to release and hold HCC, its officers, directors, employees, agents, and contractors harmless from any and all losses, damages, rights, and actions of any kind (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) in connection with or resulting from, participation in the competition including—without limitation—personal injuries, death, property damages and any claims by third parties or otherwise based on publicity rights, defamation, copyright, trademark, invasion of privacy or other violations of law relating to your participation in the competition or its opportunities.

For more information, call the Office of Student Innovation & Entrepreneurship at 713.718.5269 or email: ravi.brahmbhatt@hccs.edu

HCC IDEAS Competition events schedule, rules, awards, and this page was updated on 02/22/2022.

Check out the Past competitions and winners:

Check out the videos/pictures from Inventathon@HCC: