Latest Tech-Prize News

The Founders Night Out - gBeta Pitch Night! The Founders Night Out - learn how to scale your business with an informative panel of experienced entrepreneurs. Read More The Founders Night Out - Start-up Night - Incubators, Accelerators and Making Your Business Go The Founders Night Out - learn how to scale your business with an informative panel of experienced entrepreneurs. Read More The Founders Night Out - Biz Jam (Get Help Fast!) The Founders Night Out - learn how to scale your business with an informative panel of experienced entrepreneurs. Read More The Founders Night Out - 2024 Holiday Networking Event The Founders Night Out - learn how to scale your business with an informative panel of experienced entrepreneurs. Read More The Founders Night Out - gBeta Kenosha Accepting Applications The Founders Night Out - learn how to scale your business with an informative panel of experienced entrepreneurs. Read More The Founders Night Out - 2025 Season Kickoff 🚀 Exciting News for Entrepreneurs! 🚀

Join us on October 23rd at the Kenosha Emerging Leaders Academy (KELA) for the kick-off of the 2024/25 Founders Night Series! Whether you're just starting your business or looking to scale, this is your chance to connect with fellow entrepreneurs, learn from experts, and work on real challenges in a... Read More The Founders Night Out - How do I talk Finance? Banks, Investors... The Founders Night Out - learn how to scale your business with an informative panel of experienced entrepreneurs. Read More The Founders Night Out - How do I "Hire" for my Start-up and Scaling Business? The Founders Night Out - learn how to scale your business with an informative panel of experienced entrepreneurs. Read More The Founders Night Out - How do I market my business? The Founders Night Out - learn how to scale your business with an informative panel of experienced entrepreneurs. Read More The Founders Night Out - How do I scale my business? The Founders Night Out - learn how to scale your business with an informative panel of experienced entrepreneurs. Read More The Founders Night Out - 5xx Night The Founders Night Out - discussion about the Microsoft Teals Program, Networking, Beverages and Snacks! Read More The Founders Night Out - Microsoft TEALS Program The Founders Night Out - discussion about the Microsoft Teals Program, Networking, Beverages and Snacks! Read More The Founders Night Out - AI in Business & Entrepreneurship The Founders Night out for 7/26 must be Canceled and will be Rescheduled Read More The Founders Night out for 7/26 must be Canceled and will be Rescheduled The Founders Night out for 7/26 must be Canceled and will be Rescheduled Read More Founder Institute Early Admissions Deadline Coming Feb 5 - Save $200! With access to the world's largest network of startup mentors at Founder Institute, you don't just learn how to build your startup; you actually build it for real! Save $200, signup by Feb 5th! Apply to the FI Wisconsin Program 👉 fi.co/wisconsin Read More Startup Legal: Feedback from Top Regional Startup Lawyers (Online) As an early-stage entrepreneur, trying to navigate your way through the legal aspects of company formation is critical to your success.  We’d recommend you seriously consider attending the upcoming Wisconsin Founder Institute upcoming event: 'Startup Legal: Feedback from Madison's Top Startup Lawyers'. Check out these speakers: https://fi.co/e/314351 Read More Founder Hotseat: Pitch Your Idea to Startup Investors and Experts (online) As an early-stage entrepreneur on the hunt for funding, being able to effectively pitch your idea is critical to your success.  We’d recommend you seriously consider attending the upcoming ‘Founder Hotseat: Pitch Your Idea to Startup Investors and Experts (online)’ event from our ecosystem partner, Founder Institute. Founder Institute has a comprehensive 16-week program that... Read More Business Insights & Leading Trends for Startup Businesses - Dec 13th! "I have a great idea that I want to launch." "My business is plateaued, how do I take the next step?" There are a lot of people that know how to do this. I want to find a way to make this happen as quickly and effectively as possible. What can my startup and mentoring... Read More Tech-Prize Receives Grant from SC Johnson Tech-Prize is pleased to announce it has received a grant from SC Johnson to Support the Tech-Prize competition and process. This grant applies to the prizes and competitions utilized to motivate Innovation in our community. Read More Milwaukee Start-up Ideas - Is there an Eco-System to Help Me? (In-Person Event) Join us for an outstanding “In-Person” event at the beautiful and historic Milwaukee Athletic Club, to hear a great panel of Wisconsin leaders share how the Eco-System is set up to support you. 

This event happens on December 13th at 6:00 PM CST at the Milwaukee Athletic Club.
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Learn more & register here:... Read More Startup Funding in Wisconsin: How to Raise Money (Online Event) Do you have a startup that needs funding? Do you want to learn how startup funding works, what you need to do before trying to raise funding, and where you can go to get it? Then join us for this interactive, online fundraising workshop, which will provide practical, step-by-step advice. It will feature talks from... Read More Milwaukee Tech Week Is Coming! Be a part of Milwaukee Tech Week! Explore Milwaukee’s innovation through events covering all of tech. Attend one or more during the week and help us celebrate MKE Tech. See the full calendar of events: https://www.mketech.org/tech-week-2022-events/ Read More Startup Funding in Wisconsin: How to Raise Money (Online Event) Hey everyone - we have an event coming up ( 6:00 pm, Oct 13, 2022 (America/Chicago)) that you may be interested in: "Startup Funding in Wisconsin: How to Raise Money". This will be a panel discussion with experienced entrepreneurs, bankers and investors. This will be a great event to hear directly from the... Read More WTC/WESS Announce three chances to pitch at Early Stage Symposium The Wisconsin Technology Council has announced accepting applications for their annual Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium planned for Nov 9-10 at Madison's Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center.  There are three chances to pitch at the event. Learn more: https://wisconsintechnologycouncil.com/early-stage-symposium/ Read More WTC/Tech-Prize Networking Event Introducing the Founder Institute Wisconsin Accelerator The Tech-Prize team would like to invite you to the Tech-Prize 2022 Networking event and the Kick-off for the Founder Institute Wisconsin, Accelerator to bring together the full community of Idea Creators, Investors, Sponsors, Mentors, and Civic, Education, and Business leadership.  We do this to create connections and make the Innovation Eco-System an outstanding culture... Read More Share Your Experience, Be A Mentor, Help the Community Becoming a mentor can boost your own professional development while offering the satisfaction of giving back by helping others. Here’s an opportunity to become a mentor and make the most of the experience.

Learn more and apply to become a mentor at https://fi.co/mentor/10403 Read More Tech-Prize Announces Founder Institute Wisconsin on WisBiz The Story Tom Still, Director of the Wisconsin Technology Council interviews Jeffrey Daniel, Co-Leader of Tech-Prize and Co-Director of Founders Institute Wisconsin on the Launch of Founder Institute's latest chapter - Founder Institute Wisconsin. Read More founder wisconsin home, Tech-Prize Launches Founder Institute in Wisconsin! Today, the Founder Institute, the world’s premier pre-seed startup accelerator, is excited to announce the formation of Founder Institute Wisconsin chapter (www.fi.co/wisconsin) of Founder Institute in partnership with Tech-Prize (www.tech-prize.org) located in Racine, WI. Founder Institute Wisconsin will work with Entrepreneurs throughout the region, the United States and internationally.

Learn more: https://tech-prize.org/tech-prize-launches-founder-institute-in-wisconsin/ Read More I’ve got a great idea. Holy Cow – I’ve got to tell someone! Actually, I need to figure out myself - how to make my idea happen! The Tech-Prize Idea competition is created for exactly this. September 9-17, in Racine WI, Virtual and Physical.

Share your idea - win money! https://www.tech-prize.org/idea-competition Read More

Tech-Prize does 3 things…

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Our Purpose…

Helping Ideas Find Fulfillment

Tech-Prize is all about moving futures forward.  We seek out great ideas in our annual Idea Competition, and integrate them into our incubator funding and growth process to develop them into fully functioning businesses that are ready to pitch for large-scale investors at our Pitch Competitions.  Last year we awarded over $80,000 in scholarships and cash to local and global participants.

We’re more than an incubator and idea aggregator. We involve all participants in our mentorship and success process, meeting them wherever they’re at in their professional journey. We work on providing the secret sauce to success, the things they don’t teach you in the classroom. 

We encourage you to interact with any of these events and competitions.

Tech-Prize 2022 Overview

How We Do It…

Making ideas a reality…through many resources…

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay.com

IDEA COMPETITION

Bring your best ideas and compete for cash & scholarship prizes. Tech-Prize offers mentoring and engagement in the incubator process to help develop and launch ideas into a product and sustainable business.

All participants will get to network with innovative peers, brands, and industry professionals virtually and in-person at our annual event. Top participants walk away with cash prizes and other exciting oppurtunities.

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PITCH COMPETITION

Calling all entrepreneurs that have developed their idea and business approach to the level that they are seeking funding, assistance, or mentoring to grow their business.  VC investors and businesses will be present to listen to your pitch once it’s ready for the big leagues. Got a great idea or a new business? We’re here to help you fine tune a few details to get you ready to pitch, and achieve success. The competition itself will hone the “Pitch” for the individual or team, provide cash awards, space for business start-up, mentoring, and legal assistance to help enable your start-up.
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ESPORTS COMPETITION

This year’s Esports competition will be a Digital Rube Goldberg Machine Minecraft Contest. This is a STEAM competition where students from grades 3-12 compete with machines that they have imagined in the Minecraft universe, designed in Minecraft Education Edition, and created in a fun and competitive forum.

The competition encourages teamwork and out-of-the-box problem-solving in a fresh learning environment and level playing field. This year’s challenge is to use Minecraft to build a wacky Rube Goldberg machine.

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APP COMPETITION

Establishing a community-based process that provides the knowledge, skills, motivation, and jobs to make Southeastern Wisconsin the coding “Silicon Valley ” of the Midwest. With jobs in coding ranging from $50k/yr to $200k/yr. Let’s bring those job skills to our local community. Engage in various coding, web 4.0 and other future forward speaking events, boot camps, and more throughout the community. We would ask that anyone who has this interest in coding come and participate. Let’s get the best coders in our community engaged and learning from each other.

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Tech-Shop Online learning

EDUCATION & NETWORKING

Tech-Shops, Biz-Shops & Tech-Working Events happen on select dates and times

(See All Events)

Tech-Shops, Biz-Shops, and Tech-Working events are a series of presentations and networking events, both in-person and virtual that provide a wealth of information, instruction, methods, tools, and all the concepts the entrepreneur needs in order to move from ideas to execution.

Topics covered include:

  • IP Protection
  • Business/Marketing & Financial Plan Development
  • Funding Options & Access to Venture Capital & Angel Investors
  • Banking Strategies
  • And many more!
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SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Join Tech-Prize during our annual event for an eleven day event celebrating the entrepreneurial experience!

This includes social events at a number of iconic establishments in Southeastern Wisconsin.

Click LEARN MORE to see the 2022 event calendar.

Join us for Family-friendly events that celebrate Racine’s spirit and history of innovation!

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Sponsorship’s Make Tech-Prize Happen!

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay.com

A Big THANK YOU to our Sponsors!

Tech-Prize couldn’t happen without the Sponsorship of companies, individuals, and community leaders who care.

Learn More about Sponsorship

Sponsorship w/Tech-Prize

Host a Founders Night Out!

Hosted In The Birthplace of American Innovation

Tech-Prize attracts thousands of visitors to Downtown Racine, Wi to take part in an exciting display of next generation ideas. Inventors will display designs from every technological discipline in our store fronts, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, police station, library, museum and more. Racine once held more patents per capita than anywhere in the world. So we’re paying homage to that innovative past while looking forward to the bright future being created here.

How does it work? There is no limit on how many exhibits a business can host. A small exhibit may need just a table space, while others may require more elaborate space. Please fill this form and your information will be electronically matched with potential exhibitors best fitted for your location.

Host an Invention!

“City of Racine is ready to host  Tech-Prize”

I am excited to see that the Thriving Economy Wave team is working on Ambitious and Grand Initiatives like TECH-PRIZE that will kick-start the growth of our community in multiple dimensions such as commerce, trade, and tourism while providing a platform for intellectual growth through technology competition.”

Tom Buhler, founder VGR

“TECH-PRIZE to carry the tradition of  the leadership in Innovation and Industry”

“For virtually our entire history, Racine County has been a leader in innovation and industry. We recognize the potential of Tech-Prize to help carry on this tradition, and we hope students become involved and inspired.”

Jonathan Delagrave, Racine County Executive

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