An Xceptional Challenge

University of Maryland students with bold answers to some of the world’s biggest problems could soon graduate with not just a degree, but also a startup company with up to $2 million in investments.

The university is launching an XPRIZE-inspired initiative incentivizing students’ technology innovations—led by one of the original funders of the competition series that generously rewards radical approaches to global challenges, ranging from rising atmospheric carbon to the growing threat of wildfires.

The xFoundry@UMD will recruit students committed to doing good on a large scale, then train them over 15 months to work across disciplines while gaining valuable knowledge and experience as they build their projects. Student teams will then face off at an annual competition to have their solution win funding and support from a group of seasoned executives to form a new venture.

“Terps harness their creativity, energy and talent to create tangible, meaningful change in the world,” says university President Darryll J. Pines. “This experimental program will offer students a one-of-a-kind competition that will take on the grand challenges of our time.”

Amir Ansari, an engineer, serial entrepreneur and inventor with 60-plus patents, will oversee the xFoundry in his new role as co-founder and inaugural executive director of the university’s E.A. Fernandez IDEA Factory, a high-tech workshop designed to foster collaboration across engineering, the arts and humanities, science and business.

Ansari and his family were title sponsors of the 2004 Ansari XPRIZE that awarded $10 million to the creators of the first reusable manned commercial spacecraft (which went on to become the basis for Virgin Galactic). He remains on the board of the XPRIZE Foundation as it sponsors other contests aimed at sparking solutions in domains such as energy, climate, equity, health and education.

The shared mission of the foundation and the university to tackle grand challenges grabbed his attention, and the robust entrepreneurial ecosystem on campus and the intellect and enthusiasm of the students won him over.

“I love this strategic mission of the community coming together to solve problems,” Ansari says. “I’m hoping what will happen now is a new way of introducing a value proposition for spending time at a university: to graduate students armed with the ability to do something significant that can
also become very successful for them.”

Students in the xFoundry@UMD program, called Xperience, can earn credits toward their degrees as they participate in its four components: Xplore, Xperiment, Xcelerate and Xecute. They take students on a journey from picking a topic, to learning about the mindset of entrepreneurship, to forming
teams and developing their idea into a prototype.

The winner of the competition receives a venture with at least $250,000 and up to $2 million in investors’ funds to launch the company, with experienced corporate executives to guide them through their first year. Upon graduation, winning team members become co-founders working on the venture’s product team, complete with a salary and equity stake.

“These are smart students,” Ansari says. “With a little exposure to the right elements and some light guidance, they can be solving real problems facing our society, and creating a better world for everyone.”