The Collegiate Inventors Competition is Going Virtual

For 30 years, the Collegiate Inventors Competition^® (CIC) has invited the nation’s most innovative graduate and undergraduate students to come together and present their ideas to our world-changing National Inventors Hall of Fame^® (NIHF) Inductees.

Thanks to our strong partnership with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), CIC has traditionally been held at the USPTO headquarters. However, due to the spread of COVID-19, this year the competition is adopting a virtual format.

During times like these, innovation is essential, so we feel the recognition of our country’s most accomplished student inventors is even more important than ever before. It’s for this reason that we are doing everything we can to adapt and ensure that the competition and the valuable networking opportunities it is known for will continue uninterrupted.

Making Connections

On the first day of the competition, all the Finalists will attend a virtual welcome reception where they will get the chance to network with other student inventors and develop valuable professional connections.

On day two, each team will attend an online Q&A session with a panel of NIHF Inductees and USPTO representatives serving as CIC Judges. The contestants will have the opportunity to learn about the process of invention, intellectual property protection and more, directly from some the world’s greatest innovators. They will also have the chance to speak to their prerecorded presentations, which the Judges will have viewed ahead of time.

These virtual sessions offer a chance for our Hall of Famers to share their knowledge and expertise with the next generation of innovators and provide valuable mentorship opportunities that can serve students throughout their careers.

Rewarding Innovation

While acceptance into CIC guarantees participants direct interaction with Inductees, the winners in both the graduate and undergraduate categories also receive a cash prize and an additional one-on-one mentorship session that will help them take their ideas and business plans to the next level.

To stay up to date with the latest CIC news, and to learn more about the competition itself, we encourage you to visit our website and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.