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Innovate! Celebrate! 2026: From 'What If?' to What's Real
The annual Innovate! Celebrate! event was less a ceremony than a demonstration. On the evening of April 28, Lehigh University's Office of Entrepreneurship filled the room with confetti, applause, and something harder to manufacture: proof. Proof that curiosity, when given the right ecosystem, becomes something real.
![5 million in Lehigh [faux] Founder Fund$](/sites/entrepreneurship.lehigh.edu/files/styles/square_thumbnail_xs/public/images/news/5x3a0111-ic-20260428-sme226.jpg?h=804dd421&itok=X23WoiAw)
Six hundred million in Faux Founder Fund$ — and One Very Real $1,000 Winner
Each year, before the formal Innovate! Celebrate! program begins, attendees spend the reception period in Innovation Alley — a showcase of student ventures who compete for Founder Fund$, the event's faux investment currency. The prize is a REAL $1,000 cash prize!
From Validation to Growth: The Ventures Lab at Year Four
Lehigh's Ventures Lab isn't where ideas are born — it's where they grow into fully formed companies. Now in its fourth year, four Ventures Lab founders were highlighted at the 2026 Innovate! Celebrate! awards ceremony.
The Farrington Award for Outstanding Commitment to Entrepreneurship
The Farrington Award for Outstanding Commitment to Entrepreneurship, named for Lehigh's 12th president and given annually to recognize sustained, all-in dedication to the university's entrepreneurship community, has a short but distinguished list of past recipients, including Dexter Baker, John Thalheimer, Joan Thalheimer, Jamie Flinchbaugh, Joshua Cohen, and Pat Costa. This year, Frank Balcavage, class of 2001, joined them.
