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SPARK 2026 CMU's Largest Annual Student Networking Event for Startups & Emerging Companies

Join us for CMU SPARK 2026, a high-energy evening connecting Carnegie Mellon students with startups and emerging companies hiring across technology, design, product, and business.

The evening opens with a keynote from Boris Sofman, Co-Founder and CEO of Bedrock Robotics and former leader at Waymo and Anki. Boris will share lessons from building ambitious robotics and autonomy companies and offer students a firsthand look at what it takes to create and scale frontier technology.

Following the keynote, startups founded by CMU alumni will take the stage for rapid-fire tech talks about what they are building and the roles they are hiring for. The evening concludes with a career fair where students can meet founders, executives, and hiring teams directly.

...Presented by the Career Professional & Development Center (CPDC) and Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship.

Agenda

5:00 PM ET - Doors open

5:30 - 6:00 PM ET - Keynote with Boris Sofman, Co-Founder & CEO, Bedrock Robotics

6:00 - 7:00 PM ET - Startup Tech Talks
Hear from select CMU-founded startups as they talk about what they're building and the roles they're hiring for.

7:00 - 9:00 PM ET - Startup Career Fair & Networking
Meet founders and hiring teams from CMU startups and emerging companies in Rangos Ballroom

For Startups & Emerging Companies

Are you a CMU-founded startup hiring? Apply to participate as a Startup Employer below by August 21st, 2026.

If you have a question, reach out to Mev Howison (mhowison@andrew.cmu.edu) and Steven Guo (stevengu@andrew.cmu.edu) for more information.

For Students

Looking for an internship, full-time role, or an opportunity to join a fast-growing startup?

Hear directly from Boris Sofman and meet companies hiring across AI, robotics, autonomy, deep tech, healthcare, climate, and enterprise technology.

SPARK 2025 Recap

At SPARK 2025,  — Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer, Gecko Robotics, Inc. — opened the evening as the Keynote speaker before featuring our Tech Talk companies that pitched on stage to the crowd of students and CMU talent.