Nov. 18: Six Finalist Teams to Compete for Cash Prizes in Minnesota State Mankato's Big Ideas Challenge 'Live Pitch Event'
Mankato, Minn. – Six finalist teams of students or recent alumni will present their business ideas to a panel of judges and compete for cash prizes Wednesday, Nov. 18 in the final round of the Big Ideas Challenge, hosted by Minnesota State University, Mankato’s College of Business and Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Wednesday’s competition is free and open to the public and will be held from 3:30-5 p.m. at the Maverick Innovation Gateway, Powered by Nidec (230 Stadium Road, Mankato). Attendees are encouraged to register at: link.mnsu.edu/bic2026
Visitor parking is available in the lot east of the Gateway, next to the AmericInn, with additional parking available in the free lot across Stadium Road.
The Big Ideas Challenge is a new venture competition started by Minnesota State Mankato’s College of Business in 2015 to encourage and celebrate students’ innovative business ideas.
This year’s finalists include:
- AgroPredict, an agricultural intelligence platform designed to help small-scale farmers in rural Mexico make better planting and selling decisions.
- HarvestCue, a decision-support tool that helps orchard owners determine the best time to harvest their crops.
- King of the Haystack, a multiplayer card game set in an original farm-themed universe filled with quirky characters, hidden stories, puzzles and mysteries.
- Miki, an AI-powered clinical training tool that listens to simulated patient conversations and automatically turns them into structured medical documentation.
- NAVIS, an autonomous indoor robot designed to provide directions and deliver items within large facilities like hospitals, airports, universities and warehouses.
- SoilBuddy, an innovative soil-monitoring device that brings real-time laboratory-quality testing directly to the plant’s root zone.
The Big Ideas Challenge gives Minnesota State Mankato students and alumni within two years of graduating the opportunity to compete for $7,000 in prizes to fund their business.
The winner of the general student competition of the Big Ideas Challenge will automatically move to the semifinals in the Minnesota Cup (held the following October).
For more information, please contact Ashley Niss by email at ashley.niss.2@mnsu.edu or by phone at 507-389-1018.
Minnesota State Mankato, a comprehensive university with 14,958 students, is part of the Minnesota State system, which includes 26 colleges and seven universities.
