UW Tech Exploration Lab
A launchpad for applied AI, venture discovery, and real-world innovation.

Venture Discovery – Spring 2026

Turn early ideas into actionable opportunities.

Venture Discovery is the UW Tech Exploration Lab’s early-stage innovation program designed to help students move from an initial spark to a validated concept with real industry relevance. Whether your idea emerged from a Build Fest sprint, a class project, research, or your own curiosity, Venture Discovery provides the structure, mentorship, and community to develop it further.

This spring, the program will guide student teams through industry mentor matching, market-framing exercises, and rapid experiments to explore whether an idea is worth pursuing and how it might create value in the real world.

What You’ll Do

Participants will:

  • Identify and refine a meaningful problem
    Focus your concept by understanding who experiences the problem and why it matters.

  • Conduct user and market research
    Interview stakeholders, analyze patterns, and gather evidence to shape your direction.

  • Explore potential solutions through rapid experiments
    Use storyboards, prototypes, no-code tools, and AI-assisted workflows to quickly test what’s promising.

  • Partner with industry mentors
    Gain guidance from alumni and industry professionals who will help you shape the opportunity and avoid common pitfalls.

  • Build toward a clear value proposition
    By the end of the semester, you’ll have a more grounded understanding of what your idea could become — and a direction for next steps.

Who Should Apply

This program is ideal for students who:

  • Have an early idea but aren’t sure how to move it forward

  • Want exposure to innovation methods, evidence-based exploration, and responsible use of emerging technologies

  • Are excited about applied learning and real-world problem solving

  • Want to connect with industry mentors and the broader UW innovation ecosystem

Students from any major are welcome. No technical background is required.

 

Program Timeline – Spring 2026

  • Applications Open: January 15, 2026

  • Program Begins: Early February

  • Workshops & Mentor Sessions: February–April

  • Final Showcase: April 23, 2026

How to Apply

Applications open January 15, 2026.
Please check back here for the application link and full details.