uq weekend of startups

brisbane 2021

Calling all rule-breakers, risk-takers & change-makers! The UQ Weekend of Startups is BACK, and BETTER than ever!

Over the weekend, you’ll be challenged to find your crew and come up with the next hot business idea. With support from our team and mentors, by Sunday night, you’ll have prototyped & validated your big idea and your team will be ready to deliver your killer pitch to our experienced panel of judges.

Already got a winning idea? Awesome! Bring yourself and your idea. This is an opportunity for you to test it out, find some co-founders and score some cool prizes.

1 problem

54 hours

100 innovators

How does it work?

UQ Weekend of Startups begins on Friday night, where you’ll hear all the ideas and find your team. You’ll spend most of Saturday and Sunday validating and prototyping your idea, attending workshops, meeting mentors and practicing your pitch. By Sunday night you’ll be ready to deliver your pitch to our panel of judges!

The weekend is a great platform for entrepreneurs, experts and builders to come together and create a final product, test real-world applicability and present your product to industry judges and investors.

The UQ Weekend of Startups is not-for-profit and is run by UQ students and staff volunteers as well as Brisbane's entrepreneurial community.

Who can attend?

Anyone! UQ students, alumni and all members of the general public are invited to join. Each team formed on the weekend must have at least one current UQ student.

A strong team backs each other up and has a variety of different strengths and skills. So if you’re a marketer, designer, entrepreneur or just generally interested in shaking things up, this event is for you.

Idea

Brainstorm and break down the issue to develop a potential solution.

team

Express your idea across to fellow participants and form a team.

work

Spend two fast paced days validating, prototyping and researching.

pitch

Pitch your solution to an experienced panel of judges for feedback and prizes!

Theme

Sustainable solutions

When we think about sustainability, it’s easily dismissed as a recent overused buzzword. But the fact is that solving problems with long term solutions is something that we can all have an impact on. Whether it be socially, environmentally or economically: we cannot maintain our quality of life and look to challenge inequities without planning for the future.

While environmental change is a huge part of sustainability this challenge is not limited to that avenue. Education, technology, health and relationships or anything with underlying faults can have a long term solution: a sustainable one.

The root of long term change lies in understanding and striving for sustainability, where the solution will encompass the requirements of the present in addition to that of the future.

Time is ticking. This is your chance to take this challenge head on and see how your ideas can be the next Sustainable Solution.

Prizes

Champions of Weekend

1st: $1,000 (Sponsored by UQ), iLab Fast-track to bootcamp (Sponsored by iLab).

2nd: $500

3rd: $250

Spirit of the weekend

$200 Coles/Myers Gift Card

That startup company

Judges & mentors

We've got an awesome line up an experienced group of industry experts, investors and serial entrepreneurs joining the Weekend of Startups!

ALborz fallah

Founder, CarAdvice Australia

Monica bradley

Non-Exec Director, BenchOn

Sally townsenD

Founder, Sally Townsend Makeup Artistry

Mentors

Ran Heimann	Lenore Gerschwitz	Bernie Woodcroft
James Wiltshire	Camila Guindalini	Ale Wiecek
Timothy Hui	Douglas Oliver	Chris Drake
Marcus D	Chris Adams	Lachlan Watson
Ben Coughlin	Robert Hoffmann	Renae Jones
Scott Ward	Tomas Piccinini	Joshua Roser