2026 CCEI Summer Accelerator Application | Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

CCEI Summer Accelerator 2026

Welcome to the application for the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation’s 2026 Summer Accelerator! Before beginning the application, please check your availability against all application process dates and program dates to ensure your ability to participate. In person participation is mandatory. These dates can be found on our website: https://ccei.uconn.edu/programs/summer-accelerator/ If you have any questions about the application or program in general, please email Alycia Chrosniak at alycia.chrosniak@uconn.edu.

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Venture Basics

Venture Name(Required)

Describe your venture in 100 characters or less(Required)

What is your company going to make? Please describe your product and what it does or will do.(Required)

Venture website:

Optional; If you don’t yet have this please leave blank

Demo or video URL:

Optional; If you don’t yet have this please leave blank

Social media handles:

Optional; If you don’t yet have this please leave blank

Team

How long has your team been working together on this venture and what inspired you to start working on it?(Required)

How many founders are on the team?(Required)

Team Member #1 Name(Required)

This team member should be either a student, faculty, staff or alumni of UConn.

First Last

Role(Required)

What are you responsible for on your team?

Email(Required)

Enter Email Confirm Email

Linkedin or Bio URL:(Required)

UConn Affiliation(Required)

Expected Graduation Year:(Required)

UConn School or College(Required)

UConn Department or Major(Required)

Gender Identity(Required)

Ethnicity(Required)

Race(Required)

Do you have another member on your team?(Required)

Yes, I have a second team member that I will provide information for below

No, I do not have a second team member

Team Member #2 Name(Required)

First Last

Role(Required)

What are you responsible for on your team?

Email(Required)

Enter Email Confirm Email

LinkedIn or Bio URL:(Required)

UConn Affiiation(Required)

Expected Graduation Year:

UConn School or College

UConn Department or Major

Gender Identity(Required)

Ethnicity(Required)

Race(Required)

Do you have another member on your team?(Required)

Yes, I have a third team member that I will provide information for below

No, I do not have a third team member

Team Member #3 Name(Required)

First Last

Role(Required)

What are you responsible for on your team?

Email(Required)

Enter Email Confirm Email

LinkedIn or Bio URL:(Required)

UConn Affiliation(Required)

Expected Graduation Year:

UConn School or College

UConn Department or Major

Gender Identity(Required)

Ethnicity(Required)

Race(Required)

Do you have another member on your team?(Required)

Yes, I have another team member that I will provide information for below

No, I do not have an additional team member

Team Member #4 Name(Required)

First Last

Role(Required)

What are you responsible for on your team?

Email(Required)

Enter Email Confirm Email

LinkedIn or Bio URL:(Required)

UConn Affiliation(Required)

Expected Graduation Year

UConn School or College

UConn Department or Major

Gender Identity(Required)

Ethnicity(Required)

Race(Required)

Do you have another member on your team?(Required)

Yes, I have an additional team member that I will provide information for below

No, I do not have an additional team member

Name(Required)

First Last

Role(Required)

What are you responsible for on your team?

Email(Required)

Enter Email Confirm Email

LinkedIn or Bio URL:(Required)

UConn Affiliation(Required)

Expected Graduation Year

UConn School or College

UConn Department or Major

Gender Identity(Required)

Ethnicity(Required)

Race(Required)

At least one founding team member is required to participate full time in the Summer Fellowship Accelerator (hybrid Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am-3pm, June 1 – July 30, plus additional working hours). Which team member(s) will be participating full time, which will not, and why?(Required)

Does your team have domain expertise in this area? Why are you the right team to work on this venture?(Required)

About Your Venture

What stage is your venture in? (select one)(Required)

What industries are relevant to your venture?(Required)

Describe your initial target customer and what key challenge do you solve or benefit do you provide that will motivate them to spend money on your product?(Required)

What evidence of market demand do you have?(Required)

What problems or needs are you trying to solve for your initial target customer?(Required)

What is the most surprising piece of customer discovery feedback you’ve received? What impact did it have on your business?(Required)

What substitutes are people currently using (how is the customer problem you are addressing being solved today)?(Required)

Who are your competitors, and who might become competitors?(Required)

How do or will you make money (what’s your revenue model)?(Required)

Please share any traction metrics you have (examples: beta users, LOIs, active users, customer growth, etc.)(Required)

Is this venture generating revenue today?(Required)

Yes

What is your estimated annual revenue this year?

What is your customer acquisition strategy? How will you get your first (or next) 10, 100, 1,000 or 10,000 customers?(Required)

What are your next major milestones?(Required)

Funding

Have you received any outside funding for your venture?(Required)

Yes

How much funding have you received to date?(Required)

What sources of outside funding have you received?(Required)

Select all that apply

Please Specify:(Required)

IP and Legal

Is your business incorporated? (LLC, S-Corp, C-Corp etc)(Required)

Yes

Are you prepared and willing to incorporate before June 2, 2026?(Required)

Yes

Where and what corporation type?(Required)

Explain why not(Required)

Is your product/technology based on University research?(Required)

Yes

Who from your team has been involved in the research? And has an invention disclosure been submitted to UConn’s Technology Commercialization Services?(Required)

Does your venture have any IP (pending or granted)? If so, what kind and what is the status? (examples: trademark, patent etc.)(Required)

Housekeeping

Please list any other entrepreneurial classes or programs that you have participated in either at UConn or outside of it. Please indicate any prizes, funding or recognition received.(Required)

What do you hope to learn/accomplish through the Summer Fellowship Accelerator? Why do you want to participate?(Required)

How did you hear about the Summer Fellowship Accelerator?(Required)

Please specify(Required)

We understand that acceptance in the CCEI Summer Fellowship Accelerator is conditional on our team members’ full-time employment with the venture for the length of the program. If you are an international student on an F-1 visa, please contact International Student and Scholar Services at 860- 486-3855 to ask them whether you need CPT authorization to participate in this program.

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Photography/Videography/Marketing: CCEI and/or the University of Connecticut may be photographing, recording, or filming portions of this entire program convening for educational or promotional purposes. CCEI will only share the components of your project/idea that you allow us to. Until granting CCEI permission, the details of your project will not be shared. I grant CCEI permission to use my name and image in association with this program for educational and promotional purposes. (If you do not wish to grant this permission, please contact Alycia Chrosniak at alycia.chrosniak@uconn.edu.

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