news & events

Penn State student Nathan Bonslaver won first place during the 2022 LION Tank™ pitch competition for his startup CarToCamp, which manufactures custom sleeping platforms for vehicles to enhance the car-camping experience. LION Tank, which is staged by the Mont Alto LaunchBox, an innovation space that provides educational and technical resources to local entrepreneurs, was held at 6 p.m., Wednesday, April 6, at Penn State Mont Alto with a virtual option for competitors and audience members. The event. was sponsored by Patriot Federal Credit Union. Five entrepreneurs competed in this year’s event with the top three pitches receiving prize money of $1,500,...

The Penn State Mont Alto, Harrisburg and York LaunchBoxes recently announced the winners of their regional Idea TestLab final pitch competition. The competition concluded a five-week-long virtual business idea accelerator during which eight selected startups received coaching and training to identify viable business models through intensive customer discovery. Program participants comprised a select group of Penn State student and faculty entrepreneurs, and Pennsylvania-based community members who have early-stage, scalable business ideas. During the program, startups interviewed customers, built their early-stage business models, and crafted their elevator pitches. The program culminated in a pitch competition during which teams competed for up...

MONT ALTO, Pa. — A racecar seat insert designed to reduce spinal injury, a device that allows musicians with hand injuries to keep playing, and an e-commerce solution for farmers earned Penn State students cash to continue developing their products during the Mont Alto LaunchBox LION Tank pitch competition on March 25. LION Tank is a competition staged by  the Mont Alto LaunchBox, an innovation hub funded by a seed grant from the Invent Penn State initiative. The event was sponsored by the Patriot Federal Credit Union. The top three pitches considered to be most viable received grants of $500, $1,000 and $1,500...