In a bold move to retain local talent and transform the region’s economic landscape, student entrepreneurs from across Long Island converged at the New York Institute of Technology on Thursday evening for the first-ever Intercollegiate Startup Pitch-Off.
Hosted by Accelerate Long Island at NYIT’s newly unveiled Startup Tech Central in the Midge Karr Center, the high-stakes event pitted top student founders against one another in front of a room of investors, mentors, and ecosystem leaders. With startups spanning artificial intelligence, renewable energy, and software-as-a-service, the competition featured a rapid-fire, 60-second elevator pitch showcase alongside a main competition for a $1,000 top prize.
But the evening was about much more than prize money—it was a coordinated declaration of Long Island’s economic ambitions.
“New York City and Silicon Valley always look up as the startup capitals,” said Peter Goldsmith, a key figure in the local tech community. “We want Long Island to be recognized as a startup capital. It’s part of that ecosystem”.
Babak Beheshti highlighted the rapid physical and financial investments being made to support this vision. “We envisioned creating this Startup Tech Central just less than a year ago,” Beheshti said, noting the comprehensive building renovations undertaken to support the new initiative. “It’s really exciting to see this is our first time that we have a number of universities and colleges from Long Island are here tonight to do their pitch and compete for the monetary prize and the recognition”.
Building the Infrastructure for Success
To ensure these nascent companies survive the notoriously difficult early stages of business, NYIT and its partners are heavily investing in both prototyping infrastructure and expert mentorship.
Dr. Michael Nizich detailed the university’s commitment, explaining that NYIT’s College of Engineering and Computing Sciences fueled Startup Tech Central with a $5 million startup fund. The center operates in tandem with the campus’s Entrepreneurship and Technology Innovation Center, a recognized New York State Business Incubator that has been running for a decade.
“We became a prototyping center,” Nizich explained, emphasizing how students leverage mechanical engineering, computer science, and cybersecurity resources. “So we’ll be building some of the technologies for the actual startups. … combined with partnerships like Accelerate Long Island, that is allowing a student startup or a local regional startup to actually come here, get help with their business, get the prototype built”.
However, a working prototype is only half the battle. Michael Lane, a mentor who volunteers his time to guide these early-stage companies, stressed the vital need for professional coaching.
“The regulatory environment is very challenging, you pay a lot of money to accountants and lawyers to cover that for you, which these guys don’t have the money to do that,” Lane said. “Long Island has a lot of talent and what it needs is mentoring and a community to help foster that talent. … I think direct coaching as part of this process is going to really help them. They’re doing great things and they don’t even know what they’re doing”.
The Competition Floor
The competition drew fierce but friendly intercollegiate rivalry, featuring robust pitches from Stony Brook University, Hofstra University, Farmingdale State College, and NYIT.
Main competition contenders included EmoAI, an AI-powered clinical communication tool from Stony Brook; SolarShare, a renewable energy solution from Farmingdale; and FortiFund, an automated funding platform from NYIT. The 60-second showcase brought rapid-fire energy, highlighting up-and-coming ventures like Kreativio, Sound-Damp, WolfCap, and Hair Life Regeneration.
Eric Hunt, director of the Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Hofstra University, brought two of Hofstra’s startups, Plant Up and CitruslyFresh, to compete. “It’s an opportunity for the incubator companies, the accelerator companies across the entire ecosystem of Long Island to come together in a friendly competition, and we can just see all the talent that Long Island has,” Hunt said.
Hofstra student Lety Algeri, who pitched “Plant Up” alongside Cristina Galifi, showcased their mission to completely rethink agricultural education. “We transform elementary school classrooms into vertical farms so that kids are focused on out-of-the-box thinking and learning,” a representative for the startup detailed.
For Algeri, stepping into the high-pressure environment was a vital educational experience. “Total transparency, I’ve never been here before,” Algeri said. “I think it’s a great opportunity to hear from judges so that we can all learn where the gaps are in our businesses and what we could do to improve, as well as supporting one another and networking”.
The Winners Circle
When the judges’ deliberations concluded, the $1,000 top prize was awarded to Nigel Oommen and Johnathan Wheeler of NYIT for Edvana, their voice-activated classroom assessment engine.
The victory was a profound, emotional milestone for the duo. “It feels great to win. Me and my partner put in a lot of work,” Wheeler said, holding the award. “During Black History Month, it means a lot, you know, to represent for the unrepresented of course. And it’s definitely a real moment”. Wheeler confirmed the team plans on directly “putting the money back into the business to further develop what we’re working on”.
Oommen’s journey to the pitch stage perfectly illustrated the pitch-off’s core mission: drawing out unexpected talent from across the region. “To start off with, I was just a college biology major, and I didn’t really think about business that much, but I knew that I loved teaching,” Oommen reflected, crediting a specific course and his mentors for sparking the entrepreneurial drive.
Standing as the event’s inaugural champion, Oommen left the packed room of founders and investors with a powerful message about the region’s untapped potential.
“If there’s leadership in the community to foster ideas on Long Island, we can make anything happen,” Oommen said.
