INNOVATION, DESIGN & ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Our organization helps students learn about innovation, design, and entrepreneurship helping them build a community, form teams, and support promising ideas with funding through competitions. We also provide spaces and other resources for prototyping and testing. Visit the About Us page to learn more.

IDE 2026 – 2027 Calendar

We welcome you to attend monthly innovation forum, connect with students and alumni, apply to pitch, join bootcamps and more.

Innovation Forum: Business Plans, Pitching and Customer Discovery

Join us for an exciting Innovation Forum on Tuesday, October 20, featuring Hugh Thomas to learn best practices on presenting your business to investors and the startup community. Teams applying to Fast Pitch are welcomed to prepare your elevator pitch, meet founders, form teams and explore the value of customer discovery.

Fast Pitch 2026

Fast and furious, Fast Pitch is Columbia Engineering’s elevator pitch competition on Wednesday, November 18, 2026, 5:00 PM. Watch 35 finalist teams at Columbia pitch their ideas to a panel of judges in 60 seconds or less.

Community

Join the IDE LinkedIn community to make connections, learn about upcoming events and share announcements.

“We are so grateful to Columbia for providing the resources. It’s been so amazing to be part of this community.”

David Faes, Kathedra, 2025 First Place Winning Team of the Millard Chan '99 Tech Challenge

News

Columbia Announces Ignition Grant Winners and Engineering for Humanity Grant Winners

📆 August 6, 2026

Columbia Students Showcase Big Ideas in Just 60 Seconds

📆 November 19, 2025

Welcome the 2025-2026 Cohort of the Columbia Startup Lab

📆 June 25, 2025

Breakthrough Ideas from Columbia’s Young Entrepreneurs

📆 April 30, 2025

Making Hardtech Entrepreneurship (a Little) Easier in NYC

📆 March 17, 2025

Columbia Entrepreneurs Shine at Millard Chan ‘99 Tech Challenge

📆 April 27, 2026

AI, Cybersecurity, and the Power of Networks with Neil Daswani BS’96

📆 October 21, 2025

Celebrating the First MBAxMS Cohort

📆 May 16, 2025

A Launchpad for Innovation: NSF I-Corps

📆 April 15, 2025

Ioannis Kymissis Elected to the National Academy of Inventors

📆 December 11, 2024

MacGyver-in-a-Box Design Challenge Winner: Devanshi Guglani

📆 March 1, 2026

From Theorist to Tech CEO

📆 July 7, 2025

Congratulations 2025 Startup Columbia Winners!

📆 May 14, 2025

Columbia Engineering Mourns IT Exec and Entrepreneur Edward Botwinick BS’58

📆 March 19, 2025

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