Jacobson Global Venture Awards

This annual student competition will be livestreamed from the Lauder Institute.

More details closer to the date.

On January 30th, the Institute celebrated the success and 10th anniversary of Marina ‘93 and Andrew Jacobson's vision for Global Venture Awards. On the 29^th, as is tradition, Marina (also a Governor of the Institute) and Andrew host a dinner for the competitors, judges, and other supporters. This year the Institute celebrated Marina and Andrew’s vision with a gift highlighting GVA's evolution since its founding. 

Congratulations to the winners: 

• Bellwether by Chad Williams ‘27 and Ari Brown
  Bellwether provides predictive maintenance for electrical grid infrastructure using proprietary acoustic analytics and machine learning. It helps utilities detect equipment faults earlier, reduce maintenance costs, and improve system reliability.
• Élan by Sonia Alb ’26 Élan designs stylish stiletto heels using dance footwear principles and foot anatomy to deliver true comfort without sacrificing aesthetics. It fills a gap in the market for women who want heels that look elegant and feel wearable all day.
• Kala by Rowa El-tohami ’26 and Maitreyi Menon ‘26 Kala is a blockchain-powered royalty infrastructure that ensures transparent, near–real-time royalty payments for African artists, starting in Nigeria. By fixing metadata, tracking ownership, and automating payouts, it creates a trusted backbone for Africa’s creative economy.
• EruBase by Long Pham L’26
  EruBase is a community-driven platform that democratizes university admissions guidance through verified, experience-based Q&A. It empowers students who lack access to private counseling with trustworthy, personalized insights.

For the first time-ever previous winners were invited to be Judges:  Ron Kerbs ‘20 & Nestor Solari ‘19. 

LAC member Allan Kwan ‘87 returned for his 9^th year as a Judge. Tereza Nemessanyi ‘97 returned for her fourth year as a judge, serving with Matthew Addison ‘06 and Anika Szigertvari ‘98.