UIC kicks off new national challenge to innovate
Introduction
The University of Illinois Chicago is challenging students to innovate, using business ideas inspired by their backgrounds and life experiences.
Students have until the end of January to manifest their entrepreneurial spirit and submit proposals of all kinds — a business idea, a “side-hustle,” even a podcast or film — centered on the theme “Culture Is Currency.”
“Here, ‘currency’ means the knowledge, stories, relationships, creativity and ideas you already bring,” UIC Chancellor Marie Lynn Miranda said at the challenge’s launch event, hosted at the Innovation Center’s Sandbox Lab on Oct. 15. “Those perspectives help us ask better questions and imagine solutions we might otherwise miss.”
UIC joins a national network of fellow Hispanic-Serving Institutions, or HSIs, participating in the National HSI STEAM Innovation Challenge as a regional hub, alongside Miami Dade College in Florida, Houston City College and the challenge’s founding university, California State University Northridge.
UIC’s participation is powered in part by a grant obtained by Carlos Crespo, AHS dean; Kal Pasupathy, professor and BHIS head; and Don Bergh, acting executive director of UIC’s Innovation Center.
Throughout the fall semester, UIC students can work with mentors and Apple technology through the Innovation Center to fine-tune their ideas. After submitting their business proposals by Jan. 29, student participants will present selected ideas in a national showcase set for spring 2027.
“Our goal is to challenge and connect learners with family members, mentors, business entrepreneurs and community leaders to bridge and bring cultural wisdom into emerging technologies,” Crespo said.
During the challenge launch event, interested students got a taste of the challenge ahead, and some words of advice from university leaders and budding entrepreneurs.
Words of encouragement
In a panel discussion moderated by entrepreneurship lecturer Dan Hogan, attendees at the Innovation Challenge launch heard from three UIC student entrepreneurs about cultivating business ideas and navigating barriers. Joining the discussion was Shyell Lowe, a junior building a golf-coaching business geared for the corporate world; Rasheedah Na’Allah, a 2026 alum and founder of AssistHer, a new skill-sharing platform for women; and Polina Heranina, a sophomore building an AI-powered language learning platform called LingoVerse that immerses users in the culture of any language they want to learn.
Heranina’s idea LingoVerse, already a first prize winner of UIC’s 2026 Blaze Venture Challenge, stemmed from her childhood in Ukraine, where she was constantly picking up new languages, and her move to England after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. For millions of Ukrainian refugees like Heranina, rapidly acclimating to new countries’ customs and languages became imperative.
“I think it’s important for people to realize that their culture and background aren’t a weakness, and they can always leverage them as a strength,” Heranina said. “I took that experience, as hard as it was, and turned it into something people can use.”
The student entrepreneurs urged their fellow students who want to pitch in the Innovation Challenge to take the first step, through doubt or fear, and to welcome feedback.
“We are one of the most diverse schools in Illinois,” Lowe said. “It’s gold to have that as an entrepreneur, to ask people in and outside of your target market, ‘What do you think about this business idea?’”
Ash Kandari, a UIC computer science graduate student, was inspired by the discussion and plans to submit a proposal for the Innovation Challenge. Kandari is interested in finding a creative way to address stigmas in underserved communities around seeking mental health care: a topic Kandari researches at AHS’ V-ARE Lab, led by BHIS assistant professor Mohan Zalake.
“I think it was really important to get people’s views on how they tackled their individual challenges,” Kandari said of the panel. “Knowing that there are people who are in similar spaces, running into similar problems, and that they were able to push through those problems — it’s really good to hear.”
Interested in participating? Students can learn more on the Innovation Center’s website, or email uicinnovationcenter@uic.edu.
This story was edited for length and clarity by Emily Parenti-Lopez.