Series of speakers will lead up to 2024 Innovate student pitch competition

The 2024 Innovate Pitch competition will hold several events leading up to the competition finals on March 28, all at the Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center.

Innovate is Augusta University’s annual student competition hosted by AU and the Innovation team at the Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center. Groups of students will come together to present their ideas that can help solve real community problems.

Innovate will host four guest speakers in the coming weeks at the Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center’s Virtual World space prior to the competition portion. All four speaking engagements are open to the public and free of charge.

The first guest speaker is Greg Thomas, a creative design and user expert. Thomas will speak from 11 to 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 17.

Michael Newton Jr., the second guest, will speak from 11 to 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 7. Newton is the director of impact with Make Startups.

The third speaker is Beverly Lyman, PhD, associate general counsel at Augusta University. Lyman will speak from 11 to 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 21.

The final presentation will feature the VHA Innovators Network from 11 to 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 6.

The first round of submissions for Innovate are due March 10 with the final 5-minute presentations taking place at 8 a.m. Thursday, March 28, in the Georgia Cyber Center’s Plug’n’Play lecture hall.

The winners of the pitch competition at both the undergraduate and graduate level will receive $5,000, with second place receiving $3,500 and third place $2,500. Winning teams will also present their ideas to the PhD students at a special networking opportunity at the 3MTcompetition.