Events and Hackathons

Connect with a community of fellow women who are building startups and businesses.

Get ready for ilab & Empower 2026 and find out more about the programs at our final information session.

Join a panel discussion with ilab & Empower alumni & EiRs. Get program insights and application tips from those who have been there before.

Get ready for ilab & Empower 2026 and find out more about the programs and application process.

Connect with a community of fellow women who are building startups and businesses.

UQ Ventures’ Startup Mixer connects UQ students directly with founders and early stage teams.

Witness ilab's Chapter 1 cohort for 2026 in May as the Chapter 1 Accelerator cohort is gearing up to pitch their breakthrough ideas live to investors, industry leaders, and the wider innovation community.

Cheer on our newest founders as they kick-off their entrepreneurial journeys and take to the stage to share their inspiring startups.

Connect with a community of fellow women who are building startups and businesses.

The ScaleUP Showcase 2025, presented by UQ Ventures and supported by QIC and UniQuest Extension Fund, brings together the people and ideas shaping Queensland’s innovation future. Experience founder showcases, connect with investors from around the world, and be part of the grand finale Pitch Night — where one pitch will have the opportunity to be awarded up to $100,000 of investment.

UQ students, get ready for the biggest Ventures event of 2025! Buy your tickets and join a high-energy celebration of UQ student innovation, entrepreneurship, and startup culture on Saturday 18 October.

Join UQ Ventures for a 5K run (or walk, pups welcome!) to celebrate and support the next generation of change makers.

Join us as our top teams from the 2025 UQ Ventures Industry Challenge share their ideas to reimagine the future of aging.

Join us for an inspiring session where student entrepreneurs share their journeys. Coming from diverse backgrounds, these students have participated in entrepreneurship programs while at university and have been supported by Protostars—a program led by the Blackbird Foundation that provides $1,000 grants to young entrepreneurs to work on their passion projects.

Early-stage investment is a critical part of the commercialisation and a powerful source of financing for high growth companies.

Meet a cutting-edge Brisbane-based technology startup specialising in autonomous drone technology, LiDAR mapping, and data analytics.

Join us for an interactive session with Notion and a startup founder, as we explore the powerful intersection of tools and entrepreneurship. Whether you're building your first side hustle or dreaming big, this is your chance to get inspired, get insights, and get Notion working for you.

Our guest speakers will share their stories of failure including the lessons they learnt and how their failures ultimately led to success.

Cheer on our newest founders as they kick off their entrepreneurial journeys and take the stage to share their inspiring startups.

Join Ventures at The Princess Theatre for ilab Pitch Night: Chapter 1, Thursday 10 April, where UQ’s startup entrepreneurs will present their cutting-edge innovations – from solutions for disability care, energy efficiency, and diagnostic medicine. Book your tickets.

UQ Ventures, in partnership with Angel Loop, hosts the monthly Morning with Angels. This monthly meetup gives you the opportunity to meet with local Angel Investors for a coffee and a chat.

Got a side hustle, passion project, or idea? Side Hustle Club is your weekly space to co-work, connect, and level up with a lunch and learn featuring founders, industry guests, and experts.

Network with some of Brisbane's best local startups. Our Startup Mixer event includes a reverse pitch where our startups pitch their business to you! Startups range from health tech, fintech, and sustainability.

Are you a UQ staff member or student with a business idea or passion project you’ve been wanting to turn into reality? This International Women’s Day, join us for an interactive "March Forward" workshop designed to help you take your first steps toward starting your own business or side hustle, or apply an entrepreneurial mindset to your current work!

UQ Ventures, in partnership with Angel Loop, hosts the monthly Morning with Angels. This monthly meetup gives you the opportunity to meet with local Angel Investors for a coffee and a chat.

The LeadHers Staff Day (13 February) seeks to support emerging women and gender-diverse leaders in the university to reach their potential. Register today.

UQ Ventures, in partnership with Angel Loop, hosts the monthly Morning with Angels. This monthly meetup gives you the opportunity to meet with local Angel Investors for a coffee and a chat.

Celebrate Women's Entrepreneurship Day at LeadHers Rise! Join us for a morning of inspiration, connections, and celebration with Hannah Spilva, award-winning entrepreneur, and co-founder of LVLY, a $35M success story. Hear her journey from startup challenges to a major exit, and gain insights to boost your own entrepreneurial path.

Join the one-day Inclusive Design Day (9 November) and challenge yourself to create solutions that address key issues faced by people with disabilities. Open to all UQ students, partners, staff and alumni who want to create solutions for the disabled community.

UQ Ventures, in partnership with Angel Loop, hosts the monthly Morning with Angels. This monthly meetup gives you the opportunity to meet with local Angel Investors for a coffee and a chat.

Join us for the exciting conclusion of the 2024 Empower pre-accelerator! Meet 10 dynamic, women-led startups that are turning bold ideas into real-world impact. From reinventing the way we give gifts to advancing radiology with AI and tackling fast fashion waste, these founders are breaking boundaries and making a difference.

Dive into the future of Ocean Innovation as our top teams from our 2024 Industry Challenge pitch their solutions to pressing ocean problems.

Get ready for Hack for Health (11-14 Oct), the ultimate university student hackathon where innovation meets sustainability! Over 48 electrifying hours, you’ll team up to transform healthcare through cutting-edge solutions that prioritise people and the planet.

Delivered by UQ Ventures and the UQ Indigenous Business Hub this event is a must for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander business founders and aspiring entrepreneurs.

Network with some of Brisbane's best local startups. Ventures Startup Mixer includes a reverse pitch where our startups pitch their business to you! Startups range from health tech, fintech, and sustainability. UQ students from all disciplines are welcome to attend. Join us 17 September and register today.

Join our startup founders as they showcase their cutting-edge innovations 12 September at The Tivoli. This diverse cohort of founders range from artificial intelligence and social media to period care and delicious snacks.

Get ready to celebrate World Entrepreneur's Day at UQ! Get involved for a day of festivities including: startup and side-hustle stalls, food trucks, entertainment, competitions and more! Drop by 11am-3pm, 21 August at the Great Court.

Want to compete for a share in $10,000 in cash prizes? Join the Food Innovation Challenge to develop a food and beverage innovation project towards a viable business. Open to students from UQ, QUT and UniSQ. Register by 6 August.

Calling all UQ students—become a catalyst for change! Join the Challenge to tackle complex issues affecting our oceans and compete for multiple prizes worth $11,000. Open to UQ students across all disciplines. Join the info session 30 July and get your team together before 2 Aug.

Are you looking to grow your leadership capabilities? The Ventures LeadHers Staff Day, 26 July, seeks to support emerging women leaders in the university to reach their potential. Open to all staff at UQ.

Ventures are throwing open the doors of their Ventures Studio. Join us for a Ventures in-house celebration to mark the conclusion of our Empower pre-accelerator program and to see our refreshed incubator space.

Join our startup founders as they showcase their cutting-edge innovations 21 March at The Princess Theatre. This diverse cohort of founders range from social entrepreneurs to trailblazers in AI-driven platforms and digital cameras to the future of the electrical grid.

This event and round table discussion will explore the importance of economic investment in women and girls to achieving gender equality and enjoying an innovative, inclusive and thriving society as part of International Women's Day.

Network with some of Brisbane's best local startups. Ventures Startup Mixer includes a reverse pitch where our startups pitch their business to you! Startups range from health tech, fintech, and sustainability. UQ students from all disciplines are welcome to attend. Join us 5 March and register today.

Are you looking to grow your leadership capabilities? The Ventures LeadHers Staff Day, 13 February, seeks to support emerging women leaders in the university to reach their potential. Open to all staff at UQ.

Are you a leader looking to create and develop impactful strategies? UQ Ventures in partnership with Strategic Doing is hosting a one-day Strategic Doing Practitioner Training course. The course will give you the knowledge and tools to tackle your biggest problems by mastering the management of complex collaborations, open innovation, and ecosystems.

The 2023 Ventures Empower Women's Accelerator Pitch Night will showcase cutting-edge innovations from UQ’s women and gender diverse startup entrepreneurs. This diverse cohort of founders range from social entrepreneurs to trailblazers in health, cold-brew beverages, decomposable packaging, and more. Don’t miss this flagship event on the Ventures calendar.

Join UQ Ventures, 17 November, as we bring together and support emerging and established women entrepreneurs, and leaders from the UQ community. Connect over a coffee, gain insights from our panel of women leaders, and celebrate Women's Entrepreneurship Day as well as the winners of the LeadHers Awards.

The University of Queensland will be hosting the Australian regional for the Startup World Cup competition. Pitch your startup as part of the regional competition here in St Lucia and the winner will be sent to San Francisco for the Grand Finale in December 2023. Submit your application today and register to attend the event.

Are you looking to grow your leadership capabilities? The Ventures LeadHers Staff Day, 24 October, seeks to support emerging women leaders in the university to reach their potential. Open to all staff at UQ.

Join us to watch the latest Ventures Validate cohort pitch for a share in $10,000 in cash prizes. These early-stage founders have spent the past 10-weeks developing and validating their startups into sustainable businesses.

Join us, 9 October at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, for the Ventures Industry Challenge Showcase where our final five teams will present their ideas for multiple prizes worth up to $11,000. This year's challenge focuses on the complex issue of housing and homelessness in Queensland.

How do entrepreneurs harness the self-belief needed to make the impossible possible? UQ ChangeMakers brings together a panel of impressive players from the startup space to talk about how they succeeded against the odds, and to share their advice for unlocking the productivity and drive to achieve ambitious goals.

Join The Technical University of Munich (TUM) and The University of Queensland (UQ), 28 September, for an honest conversation with women entrepreneurs from opposite sides of the globe. You will have the opportunity to connect with fellow founders, and discuss challenges and best practice.

Do you want to guide and shape the next generation of innovators? Put your entrepreneurial skills to the test at the Weekend of Startups event and be a part of a thrilling journey of creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurial discovery. In 48 hours create your business in the 'Future of Work' space with a chance to win a part of $10,000.

Network with some of Brisbane's best local startups. Ventures Startup Mixer includes a reverse pitch where our startups pitch their business to you! Startups range from health tech, fintech, and sustainability. UQ students from all disciplines are welcome to attend. Join us 12 September and register today.

Accelerating Athletes towards the Brisbane 2023 Olympic and Paralympic Games and beyond. During the one-day program, you will network and learn from athletes and subject matter experts leading in their fields and develop the skills needed to strengthen your financial literacy and entrepreneurial mindset as an athlete.

Interested in learning more about our interconnected future? With a central theme of ‘interconnections’, Something Digital 2023 will have a special focus on the unique connections we can make with digital innovation. Grab your tickets today.

Celebrate entrepreneurship at UQ on World Entrepreneurs’ Day! We are proud to showcase our innovative community, so celebrate the year that has been, join in on the fun, and learn more about startups who are accelerating ideas to impact. Drop by between 11am-3pm, 21 August 2023.

The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Awards showcase and celebrate the breadth of UQ entrepreneurship. From student entrepreneurs to research-based startups that offer solutions to local and global challenges to create positive change. The awards will celebrate the great success stories of entrepreneurship across the university.

Are you a budding entrepreneur? Do you love AI and tech? How would you like to win $10,000? UQ Law School and UQ Ventures, in partnership with King & Wood Mallesons, are calling on UQ undergraduate students from all disciplines to team up to develop innovative proposals that use technology to solve a problem in legal practice. Register before 10 August.

Don't miss Ideas Anonymous, an open mic pitch night where participants share their wildest ideas in 30 seconds and find potential collaborators. Celebrate creativity and unleash your wildest concepts, whether they're ground-breaking inventions, social change initiatives or artistic endeavours. Engage in discussions, offer feedback and explore partnerships to bring ideas to life.

The top applicants for Falling Walls Lab Brisbane will be given the opportunity to participate in a pitch competition and present their work to peers, an expert panel from academia and business, and the general public. Register today to attend.

Are you looking to grow your leadership capabilities? The Ventures LeadHers Staff Day seeks to support emerging women leaders in the university to reach their potential. Open to all staff at UQ.

Our guest speakers will share their stories of failure including the lessons they learned and how their failures ultimately led to success. Join us for an evening of uncensored discussions, catering, and networking.

Join us to watch the latest Ventures Validate cohort pitch for a share in $10,000 in cash prizes. These early-stage founders have spent the past 10-weeks developing and validating their startups into sustainable businesses.

Join the UQIES Sustainability Innovation Challenge to discover the most innovative university students in Queensland who are passionate about the environment. Open to all university students.

​For Cicada x Tech23, Australia's largest deep tech festival, we are travelling the country to celebrate radical innovators by bringing back alumni to hear their journey from Tech23 to today.

Join our startup founders as they showcase their cutting-edge innovations 23 March at The Tivoli. This diverse cohort of founders range from social entrepreneurs to trailblazers in nutrition, FinTech, augmented reality, and space.

Compelling communication is a key skill for the future of work. Whether we are pitching a business idea, presenting a project to our colleagues, or talking to customers, we need to be able to interest, convince and influence with our words. This workshop is available to all UQ students, staff, and alumni.

Are you wanting to learn more about gender equity in the workplace and how organisations and individuals are making an impact? Be inspired by a range of individuals who have boldly navigated diverse career pathways and advocated for, and supported, others in the workplace to reach their full potential. Hear from individuals who have navigated and flourished in non-traditional occupations and have harnessed technology and education to make an impact to gender equity.

Network with some of Brisbane's best local startups. Ventures Startup Mixer includes a reverse pitch where our startups pitch their business to you! Startups range from health tech, fintech, and sustainability. UQ students from all disciplines are welcome to attend. Join us 7 March and register today.

What toppings can you add to your university experience? Join this event to learn more about the employability and enrichment experiences you can get involved with whilst studying at UQ and enjoy some FREE ICE-CREAM!

The Ventures LeadHers Staff Day has been designed specially to foster a tighter network of women UQ professionals. You'll be a part of a community of UQ staff that lift each other beyond the program and support each other through peer mentoring. Open to all women who are professional staff at UQ.