From music for the masses to flight simulation: CSU students pitch next great startup

The Venture RAMS Business Showcase was the final event during Entrepreneurship and Innovation Day, an annual event co-organized by CSU STRATA and the Institute for Entrepreneurship in the College of Business, where CSU faculty, staff and students - as well as alumni, business professionals and entrepreneurs - have the opportunity to share their ideas, and maybe even turn them into successful companies.

CSU President Amy Parsons led a startup herself before coming back to the University. During her keynote address ahead of the Venture RAMS: Business Showcase, she emphasized that encouraging entrepreneurship is a key part of CSU's land-grant mission.

"We're helping to create new businesses that fuel Colorado's economy and make a global impact," she said. "Learning entrepreneurship will help serve students wherever they go."

This year, students presented dozens of displays during the Demo Day poster showcase, where aspiring entrepreneurs from all eight of CSU's colleges shared their innovative ideas, which ranged from special equipment for the wheels of robots used by emergency responders to a material made out of the root structure of a mushroom.

"This is another great example of breaking down barriers across campus," Shrake said.