AU's fourth annual Innovate 2023 competition to be held this Thursday

Signs promoting the Innovate 2023 competition are placed in many areas on campus. (photo by Brionna Law)

By Brionna Law | Staff writer

The 2023 Augusta University Innovate Student Pitch Competition will take place on March 30 from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Plug-n-Play room at the Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center. 

Submissions from every team that entered the competition by March 17 were reviewed, and ten teams moved on to the live pitch and presentation stage of the competition. The teams will be judged on how poor or well the groups’ ideas relate to innovation, impact, viability and the pitch itself.

Director of Innovation Lynsey Steinberg said she hopes that through the competition, students will learn stronger teamwork and collaboration skills than they would elsewhere. 

“It’s a year-long competition, where as many universities will do an innovation competition in a day. We build these relationships over the course of the whole year,” Steinberg said. 

The competition got its start in 2019 when students were asked to redesign a colostomy bag for a young girl who was going through problems in her life because of this bag and its effects on her school and social life. Steinberg said she thought students at Augusta University would do well with trying to solve a problem like this. 

“We have the ability here at the university to bring all people together who have expertise in different areas and solve these types of issues,” said Steinberg. 

Over the last four years, the Innovate Competition has grown exponentially, from 33 students participating in its debut year to over 300 participating in 2022, and the expectation is even higher for 2023. However, Steinberg said the biggest growth she has seen have been the bonds of the community. 

Steinberg said, “These connections across the university and across our community and having everybody come together has been really the biggest change because it keeps getting bigger and bigger and the connections keep growing.” 

Contact Brionna Law at brilaw@augusta.edu.