Bringing together the power of Startup Weekend and the insights of the research community in a 54-hour marathon of energy, collaboration, perspiration and fun.

Join an intense sprint to take the best ideas from researchers and the best teams from the business, design and engineering communities and combine inspiration and innovation.

Startup Weekend is the environment to run faster, think harder and bake more into your idea with the support of experienced mentors and atried and true format built to create results. No talk, all action.

Startup Weekend Science and Research is open to all research-based ideas.

What happens at Startup Weekend?

The event starts on Friday evening, with an icebreaker game and dinner, and then people pitch their research concepts to the crowd. 10-15 concepts will attract viable teams around them. By late Friday night, you will have sketched out your concept in some detail and everyone will have roles assigned and an inkling of how they’re going to achieve their goals over the weekend.

Saturday morning is all about validation – you’ll be contacting potential customers and finding out if there’s really a market need for what you’re building. If not, you’ll need to pivot based on the information you’ve picked up by “getting out of the building” and talking to people. Meanwhile, your developers and designers will be furiously building your products (or mock-ups), and your team will be attracting partners, advisers, and customers.

You’ll need to start preparing your final 5-minute presentation on Sunday morning, because your team will need to pitch it by dinner time. After that, prizes will be awarded to the best teams.Where you go from there is up to you.

Exciting projects and businesses have come out of Startup Weekends, but the real value is in the skills, new friends, and access to resources you require. Whether you’re a researcher looking for inspiration on how to take your project to market, an engineer or designer looking for the next big thing, or an entrepreneur looking for a team to turn your idea into reality, Startup Weekend is a fantastic way to test your own abilities and meet great people along the way.

Get in quick. Earlybird sales are open till June 3.

FAQ!

Where can I contact the organizer with any questions?

Email us on Wellington@StartupWeekend.org

What's different about this Startup Weekend?

This event is focused on research-based ideas, and forming teams around these to build potential ventures around research. Everything else is the same fast-paced, awesome and intense experience hundreds of motivated entrepreneurs, designers and engineers get involved in every year.

What is a research-based idea?

To be a good fit for #SWRsch your idea should meet (or come close to) the following criteria:
It will be based on a defined body of research e.g. a masters/doctorate project, market research, socio-economic research, data project, etc
It will require a degree of research and development to be a marketable product i.e. it is not already at the product stage (you may or may not have done a portion of this R&D already)
It will not have been widely commercialised yet i.e. you may have explored one market but think there is more potential to be realised yet

Do I have to have an idea to pitch to join Startup Weekend Science and Research?

No you don't. You can come along and just join a team. Please do!

If you do want to pitch your research or an idea based on your research, we will help you frame your pitch with a dedicated session on June 24 about how to communicate your idea/research to the Startup Weekend crowd.

What about intellectual property - how is this protected?

We will be giving specific instruction on handling intellectual property at the pitch preparation session on June 24 for people pitching their research to Startup Weekend Science & Research. Please contact us for more information.

What happens after Startup Weekend?

There are so many possibilities! Firstly you should memorise the names of your new best friends, and then look at what you have created. Startup Weekend has seen companies form, new teams get together, and inspirations realised. Most of all you'll feel richer, smarter and certainly exhausted.

For more event details, please visit wellington.up.co

Refund Policy: No refunds will be granted within 7 days of the event if food and drink have already been ordered. Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

Terms of Participation Agreement: It is our job to provide you with an incredible networking and learning opportunity. Our intention is that you meet some amazing people that you might actually start a company with, build relationships with coaches, and learn from your peers. The event is intended to be a collaborative forum for sharing, learning, building, and having fun. As such, by registering as a participant, you acknowledge that any ideas shared by you or anyone else over the course of the event are contributions to the overall experience and community. If you as a participant are worried about someone stealing your ideas, please reconsider your participation in the event itself or simply refrain from sharing specifics about your idea.

As a member of your startup community, you agree to to be inclusive of any and all people and their ideas. You agree to act professionally, treat everyone with respect, and treat the event facilities with proper care. You agree that you are responsible for any accidents or damages that you cause. You also agree to not hold Startup Weekend, your local volunteer team, or any of the event supporters liable for any loss, damage, injury, or any other unforeseeable incident.

By Participating at the event, you grant Startup Weekend permission to capture photo/video of the event. You can find the exact legal terms on our FAQ Page but to summarize, we want to share your success with the world.