Through the Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship (PACE), where startup challenges and maker spaces are influencing how ideas get from concept to execution, University of Hawai‘i students are gaining internships, exposure to the industry, and practical entrepreneurial experience.
Through PACE, students take part in organized entrepreneurship competitions that model early-stage business environments. The goal for PACE as a participant is to develop business concepts, prepare pitches, and present to panels of academics, investors, and business executives under a real-world workforce deadline. The structure is intended to mimic real-world scenarios when flexibility, speed, and clarity are key.
The University of Hawaiʻi’s local applied learning models align with the program’s approach. In an Innovate 808 competition held at the university, PACE Executive Director Sandra Fujiyama observed that “Innovate 808 shows how powerful interdisciplinary learning can be when we connect students to real community partners.”
By involving students in practical problem-solving with business and community partners, the competition places a strong emphasis on experiential learning. In many cases, students gain from the experience in ways that extend beyond the competitive phase.
Teams are assembled to address actual business difficulties during the Innovate 808 competition, which usually takes place as a challenging two-session competition. Approximately 12 interdisciplinary student teams from various UH Mānoa colleges and schools have participated in recent challenges, working closely with business partners to create and present ideas in a brief amount of time.
Shannon Tai, who participates in PACE’s AI Innovation team, said the program played a direct role in her access to professional opportunities.
“The most valuable thing is that I have gotten really good connections, that has gotten me internships that I would have never gotten without it,” she said.
Especially when navigating competitive internship marketplaces, she claimed those relationships were just as significant as the competition results themselves.
Additionally, PACE offers maker spaces where students can use tools and equipment to prototype their ideas. Instead of ending at a pitch or presentation, these areas encourage participants to test, develop, and tangibly refine their ideas. Program directors say this segment of the program is designed to strengthen the practical side of learning about entrepreneurship by allowing trial and error.
Another critical element of the program’s structure is mentoring. Students are given feedback throughout contests to help them improve their execution and refine their concepts. The process is meant to reflect the constant development cycle of real-life companies, where changes and feedback are constant, not in one-off situations.
“You can learn concepts in a classroom,” said Jeff Hui, mentor and starter of Innovate 808, “but until you pitch, fail, and adapt in front of real judges, it doesn’t fully click.”
Through programs like Innovate 808, where companies pose actual problems, and students develop solutions, PACE also links students with local businesses. Participants in these programs are exposed to real-world limitations, such as limited resources, client demands, and realistic deadlines.
For students, these experiences can also provide a competitive advantage when applying for internships or jobs, particularly when compared with applicants from larger institutions.
“I was competing with very competitive schools, but if I were getting internships without PACE, I don’t think I would’ve gotten them,” Shannon said.
Students from a variety of academic fields are drawn to the program, which reflects a larger trend in entrepreneurship education toward broad academic involvement. Even if they don’t want to launch a business, students frequently use the curriculum to develop their problem-solving, communication, technical skills, and teamwork abilities.
Shannon said those skills now carry into her work helping small businesses explore automation through artificial intelligence, an area that connects directly to local industry needs and evolving technology demands.
Hawaiʻi’s focus on innovation and growing economy means that PACE’s mix of competitions, maker spaces, and mentorships is providing students with structured opportunities to develop skills, make networks, and gain real-world experience outside the classroom.
