AI & ENTREPRENEURSHIP CHALLENGE FAQ's
Here you'll find information on guidelines, evaluation criteria, resources and more!
The AI Entrepreneurship Challenge is open to teams of students or recent graduates (within 2 years of graduation) from the four following institutions: Columbia University, Sciences Po, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and Ecole Polytechnique. At least one founder must be a student or recent graduate from one of the four participating institutions. Undergraduates welcome to participate within a team composed of graduate (graduate, doctoral and post-doctoral) and/or recent graduate (within 2 years) students. Teams composed only of undergraduates will not qualify, on the basis of equity between teams.
Names and roles of co-founders who are not students or graduates from the four institutions must be clearly stated in the application.
The selection committees of each school will be following this evaluation grid.
- Project’s anticipated impact and contribution to the common good: 25%
- Project’s viability (demonstrated expertise in fundraising from high net worth individuals and/or expertise in selling advertising): 25%
- Well thought-out concept and implementation strategy;
- bonus for a prototype or demo: 20%
- Compelling, credible and polished presentation: 20%
- Originality of the idea and marketability: 10%
You can find it here.
The application will include the name of the project, the names and CVs of team members, a detailed project description, a list of expected outputs and outcomes, a list of partners, a timeline, a budget and an executive summary. Teams can find the full details here (but only Columbia teams can apply using this form).
Teams from Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne, Sciences Po and Ecole Polytechnique will need to send their applications to the appropriate contact, which will be made available soon.
A contact will be made available soon.
The email headline must specify "AI entrepreneurship challenge" and your institution of affiliation.
A partner can be: financial partner, partner participants (surveys an such), tech partners, other.
1. Does a partner need to be confirmed at the time of submission (for example, with a signed agreement or a letter of support), or can we list organizations we are in discussion with, clearly marked as prospective? No and yes, you can list those you have a prospective.
2. Does a faculty advisor count as a partner, or should the advisor only be listed on the title page? No.
3. Do technology providers whose services we use (for example, an AI model API) count as partners? Yes
4. Can students or student groups who take part in our user study be listed as partners? Yes
5. Is any supporting documentation required for the partners we list? Please provide a sentence or 2 about their role in the project.