DifferenceMaker co-sponsors and supports college competitions that emerge from the program each year.

Digital Federal Credit Union and Manning School of Business Innovation Contest

This contest is open to all UMass Lowell students.

  • DifferenceMaker, the Manning School of Business and Digital Federal Credit Union hosts the DifferenceMaker DCU Manning School of Business Innovation Contest each fall semester.
  • This Innovation Contest seeks UMass Lowell students who may have a cutting-edge banking and/or financial innovation which will help drive the future success in the banking industry.
  • At last year's contest, five teams pitched at the final contest and the First Place Prize of $500 per team member was awarded to team Solar Crowdfund - a crowdfunding and investment blockchain platform for large-scale solar projects powered with decentralized finance. They received $1,500 in cash prizes!

Francis College of Engineering Prototyping Competition

This competition is open to all UMass Lowell students, however, each team needs to have at least one student on it from the Francis College of Engineering.

  • DifferenceMaker and the Francis College of Engineering hosts a Differencemaker Prototyping Competition each fall semester.
  • The Prototyping Competition seeks ideas that can be turned into real products. This competition assists students in thinking about an idea and actually building it into a reality.
  • At last year's competition, over 20 teams participated in the competition and the First Place Award of $2,500 was awarded to team Catnap - A device that sense nocturnal asthma attacks in toddlers.