NJCU Institute for Dispute Resolution Announces Inaugural Entrepreneurship Pitch Competition on April 26

JERSEY CITY, N.J. | The New Jersey City University (NJCU) Institute for Dispute Resolution (IDR) has announced it will partner with Mission 50 in Hoboken to host an entrepreneurship pitch competition on Tuesday, April 26 at 4 p.m.

The inaugural entrepreneurship pitch competition is open to all students. The successful pitch will have an opportunity to win $5,000 to launch a business idea.

Professor David Weiss — the founder and director of NJCU’s IDR — said the goal of the program is “to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation culture throughout the university by unleashing our students’ ideas. Programs and Initiatives that create a startup ecosystem environment at NJCU work to advance a robust STEM and STEAM launch pad to support our students’ creative potential.”

The pitch competition builds upon NJCU’s partnership with Mission 50, which launched an Innovation and Commercialization Lab on November 8 to support entrepreneurship programs at Hudson County’s four colleges.

In November, Gregory Dell’Aquila, the founder and CEO of ​​JDA Group LLC (JDA), the parent organization of Mission 50, committed $25,000 toward innovation on Hudson County’s college campuses, which included $5,000 to fund university-led student business pitch competitions. He also announced that the winners from each school will be invited to compete in a countywide pitch competition hosted by Mission 50 in the spring, with an additional prize of $5,000.

During the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Innovation and Commercialization Lab At Mission 50 in November, Dell’Aquila said “It has also been our company’s mission to support the entrepreneurs of tomorrow by working hand-in-hand with Hudson County’s institutions of higher learning.”

NJCU students interested in participating in the inaugural Pitch Competition can register their participation and utilize a resource to assist in building a pitch deck.

For further information on the competition, its submission process, or scheduled workshops to aid in preparing a pitch, contact Dr. Michael Arbitblit at marbitblit@njcu.edu.

About the Institute for Dispute Resolution:

The Institute for Dispute Resolution at NJCU is a platform at the School of Business that promotes sustained economic and commercial success rooted in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), promoting collaboration through international mediation and negotiation techniques and practices. Grounded in theories of business and behavioral sciences, the IDR fosters global commerce through entrepreneurship and innovation modalities, to manage disputes in cross-border, commercial, and general conflict resolution forums.

About NJCU:
New Jersey City University is an institution of higher learning with an audacious goal: the development of our students, our city, our communities, our state, and the world beyond. We are a game-changing force for our students and their families. Whether our students are enrolled in one of our 50 undergraduate, 30 graduate or three doctoral programs, NJCU provides an affordable, diverse environment, and an exceptionally supportive faculty—all of which prepares them to be critical thinkers in a global landscape.

We’re also changing the game for our city, our communities, and our state. As the educational anchor institution in Jersey City, we’ve established partnerships to ensure the area’s growth directly benefits our students and community members. We seek to improve the lives of everyone in the Garden State, whether creating a home for the arts, bringing educational programs to K-12 students, offering bachelor’s degrees in partnership with community colleges, or providing professional development opportunities for adults.

At NJCU, we’re not just educating minds, we’re nourishing souls and lifting communities. We’re changing the game.

—www.NJCU.edu—

Contact:
Ira Thor, Senior Director of University Communications and Media Relations | ithor@njcu.edu | 201-200-3301