Undergraduate and Graduate students enrolled at Rutgers-New Brunswick (part-time or full-time)

Teams can consist of 1 to 5 members

Each pitch is 5 minutes, followed by a 3-minute Q&A session. Your pitch should address:

• The problem you're solving
• The proposed solution
• Your unique advantage (How is your idea innovative or different)
• Business model and potential customers
• Your top competitors

A link to applications will be published on November 1st.

See the Application Guide for timeline, application questions, and judging rubric.

• ScarletPitch, UPitchNJ, and Hult Prize are three DIFFERENT pitch competitions.
• UPitchNJ: A statewide competition held in May. One Rutgers team will be chosen at ScarletPitch to represent Rutgers at UPitchNJ.
• Hult Prize: An international competition with semi-finals in June. One Rutgers team will be selected at ScarletPitch to compete in the Hult Prize semi-finals.

• ScarletPitch encourages sustainability. The SDGs address global challenges, and most ideas align with one or more of them.
• If you're unsure which SDG fits your idea, email idea.hatchery@rutgers.edu to schedule a consultation session.

Yes! Participation in multiple pitch events is encouraged to gain experience and feedback to advance your idea.

A concise, spoken presentation of your idea without slides. Imagine describing your idea during a brief elevator ride—how would you convey it before the person steps off?

Yes, participation in ScarletPitch is required for selection to represent Rutgers in UPitchNJ or the Hult Prize.

ScarletPitch is Rutgers’ largest university-wide ideation stage innovation and pitch competition, hosted by IDEA. Open to both Rutgers New Brunswick undergraduate and graduate students, teams identify real-world problems, design innovative solutions, and pitch early-stage ventures to judges, mentors, and industry partners.  BONUS!  By applying to Scarlet Pitch, eligible students are able to use the same Scarlet Pitch application to apply for UPitchNJ and the Hult Prize competitions.

Key student benefits:

• Apply class concepts in a real-world context
• Practice customer discovery, prototyping, and pitching
• Engage with other student innovators and the Rutgers Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
• Connect with professionals, mentors and innovators
• Compete for $5,000 in cash prizes
• Qualify for expense-paid travel opportunities for advancing teams

• Priority Application Deadline: December 22, 2025
  • (BONUS! Teams that apply early receive $10 Amazon gift cards, feedback on their application and the ability to edit their submission)
• Final Application Deadline: January 30, 2026
• Finalists Notified: February 9, 2026
• Scarlet Pitch Competition: February 27, 2026 at Trayes Hall on Douglas Campus
  • Competition:  6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
  • Networking event for applicants, judges and industry mentors: 4:30 PM - 5:30 PM

Yes! As a way to support your entrepreneurship and innovation teaching  we offer scaffolded workshops Your student can participate in our IDEA Launch Labs workshops.  This is a series of 60 minute innovation, customer discovery, and pitch training workshops designed to help novice and early stage innovators turn rough ideas into clear value propositions and confident, competition-ready pitches.  For more information go to IDEA Launch Lab Workshops