Create your own path. Be the driver of your future career. Combine your passion for creativity or desire to create change with your work in the classroom. Inspire others with your creative work or solutions to real world problems.

What are entrepreneurial and creative endeavors?

Students learn to set their own course by having experiences in early stage start-ups, advancing ideas to solve real world problems, or create artistic, written or performance-based projects. 

DifferenceMakers By the Numbers

  • $5M
    raised by teams
  • 40
    companies formed by teams
  • 11
    Number of teams patents filed or issued

Meet the DifferenceMakers

Team RAVI pitching their idea to the audience and judges at the 2024 $50,000 Idea Challenge.
Robot for the Visually Impaired (RAVI)
DifferenceMakers

A “Robot for the Visually Impaired” (RAVI) to help assist in navigating daily life for people with visual impairments.

A “Robot for the Visually Impaired” (RAVI) to help assist in navigating daily life for people with visual impairments.
Read More About Robot for the Visually Impaired (RAVI) 
George Le and Peter Maitland onstage with Steve Tello, Holly Butler and their 2018 Idea Challenge Campus-wide DifferenceMaker award for Iron Legion
Iron Legion
DifferenceMakers

Iron Legion, the 2018 Campus-wide DifferenceMaker, is a team aiming to expand the effective use of drone technology in emergency response, particularly with police departments.

One of the problems we see is that police have a lack of situational awareness when responding to critical incidents.
Read More About Iron Legion 
Cameron Edmonds, Matthew Pelland and Jackson Seal pose with their honourable mention prize for SASS at the DifferenceMaker Idea Challenge
SASS
DifferenceMakers

SASS, also known as Solo-Adventurer Safety System, provides reliable GPS tracking and communication with a timed checking system to make sure the adventurer is always safe.

What we aim to address is a safety issue that thousands of outdoor enthusiasts face every day.
Read More About SASS 
UMass Lowell Image
Treehouse '14
DifferenceMakers

A website and phone application that connects people with plans, events and small businesses nearby.

Treehouse will revolutionize how people and businesses connect and make plans.
Read More About Treehouse 
Team EV Guardian pitching their idea to the audience and judges at the 2024 $50,000 Idea Challenge.
EV Guardian
DifferenceMakers

Working to create a product that enhances safety in EV vehicles and prevents EV fires from starting.

EV Guardian is working to create a product that enhances safety in EV vehicles and prevents EV fires from starting.
Read More About EV Guardian