Press Releases

StartUP FIU Youth Entrepreneurship Program Selected as Citi Foundation Youth Workforce Fund Grantee to Prepare Miami Youth for Local Employment Needs

$3.75 million fund to increase access to apprenticeships, internships and vocational training for youth across the United States

StartUP FIU Food Expands North, Launching New P.R.E.P. Program in Partnership with Pro Kitchen Hub

The pathway to recipe development, entrepreneurship, & product creation (P.R.E.P.) will serve the Broward County community.

Road To Regionals: Hult Prize At FIU 2018 – 2019

Hult Prize is the biggest social entrepreneurship competition around the world. For the last 10 years, the Hult Prize Foundation has funded about 9 different companies, deployed more than $50M in seed capital and mobilized more than one million young people to rethink the future of business.

Pitch Night Cohort 4 Empower Accelerator May 1, 2018

If you are yearning to explore your inner entrepreneur, StartUP FIU’s Pitch Night on May 1st is the place to be inspired!

StartUP FIU’s EcoAtlas Finalist for Fast Company World Changing Ideas 2018 Awards

Fast Company, a leading innovation and entrepreneurship publication, announced today that Studio Roberto Rovira, a Miami company founded by an FIU faculty member and creator of the EcoAtlas, is a finalist in this year’s World Changing Ideas 2018 award…..

Turning small-change into big savings – a StartUP FIU Story

Ryan Morrison was a recent business school graduate saddled with student loan debt – and a self-taught software application coder looking for the next great app……

Looking good while doing good. How a new active-wear company is helping women around the world

Juan Castellanos had graduated from Stanford University and spent two years with Deloitte’s global consulting practice when he realized his future was in women’s active-wear…..

Enrich: FIU 2017-2018 Entrepreneurship Courses Taught by StartUP FIU

StartUP FIU supports the university-wide initiative to expand the curriculum and course offerings in innovation and entrepreneurship……

Game time! New company leverages virtual reality technology to improve the physical therapy experience.

Jose Maldonado, an engineering student at Florida International University (FIU), is one of those guys you hear about, the kind of brilliant innovator who decides a new virtual reality headset is too expensive to buy so he makes his own and then has a blast creating his own simulations…..

Rent it, love it, then return it! Burgeoning luxury handbag rental business receives major boost from StartUP FIU

“I heard of power dressing so I decided to borrow my friend’s Prada purse to complete my outfit. The effect that handbag had on me and my confidence level was incredible.”….

StartUP FIU launches food business incubator

StartUP FIU, the university-wide initiative in innovation and entrepreneurship at FIU, has announced the opening of its second program: StartUP FIU FOOD….

There’s Talent West of I-95. Come and Get It.

One of the recurring challenges in Miami is the disconnect between the east and the west. I understand how critical it is to build the urban core. It brings investment, attracts residents and businesses, revitalizes neighborhoods, builds civic engagement and creates jobs (nearly 80 percent of all jobs are on the east side)….

StartUP FIU creates innovation ecosystem to rev the engine of economic growth

Jason Dettbarn, 39, stands in front of about two dozen other equally enterprising individuals and shares details about his early-stage company….

Yes! Entrepreneur finds StartUP FIU is just what his company needed

As engineers, we tend to think if we build it, they will come,” says Jason Dettbarn, founder and CEO of Addigy. “But the business world doesn’t work like that. We needed help and that’s what took us to StartUP FIU (Florida International University)….

Four-woman team of undergraduate students compete for top prize in social entrepreneurship with help from StartUP FIU

The 7th Annual Hult Prize, the world’s largest student competition whose winner receives a cash prize of $1,000,000 to launch their social venture, this year challenged participants to build a sustainable, scalable start-up enterprise….

Talent and training here but employers don’t see it, panel says

Employers are using an “outdated lens” to search for new talent and need to modernize their hiring practices, according to panelists at an economic summit….

How to get from poverty to prosperity

Hey! Breaking news! Miami has some affordability issues. Okay, not actually breaking news. But #notfakenews either. Miami Dade County’s poverty rate is 19.8 percent – way higher than the national average. Sixty-one percent of renters spend more than a third of their income on housing…

Meet the entrepreneurs in Cohort 2 of StartUP FIU accelerator

StartUP FIU is launching its second cohort of its 14-week accelerator, Empower, this month. The cohort includes entrepreneurs from 17 businesses or concepts in a variety of industries, including music, fashion, shipping, health and education.

Entrepreneurs hit the mark with potential investors at StartUP FIU’s first Pitch Day

Let’s say you’re an entrepreneur and you have five minutes to pitch your idea to dozens of potential investors, an idea you may have been working on for a year or more. Go!…

StartUP FIU helps Miami software startup Addigy scale

Addigy, a local Miami software company that helps corporations manage their Apple Mac fleet, is preparing to expand its global reach with the help of Florida International University’s StartUP FIU. …

FIU business incubator meets the community

StartUP FIU had its coming out party this week at a luncheon in Miami’s Little River neighborhood. In attendance: more than 200 movers and shakers eager to hear about the university’s new business incubator…

Blastoff for StartUP FIU, with food, art and tech on way

Bid.Aero, a marketplace for airplane and engine parts, is ready to fly but just needs a little help…

StartUP FIU launches suite of events for Global Entrepreneurship Week 2016

With less than two weeks to go, StartUP FIU is prepping for its first Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW)…

Why every incubator needs social entrepreneurs

In January 2016, Emily Gresham and I began to design the program that became StartUP FIU, Florida International University’s (FIU) new incubator…

FIU to launch three incubator locations

Florida International University in Miami-Dade County is joining a growing list of local universities launching incubator programs for startup businesses…

Multi-campus StartUP FIU gets ready for takeoff

In the culinary kitchens of Florida International University’s Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Michael Cheng smelled opportunity…