AgentVenture 2026 Concludes Successful First-Year Final Showcase & Pitch Competition

CFI Robotics NFP is proud to celebrate the successful conclusion of the first AgentVenture: The Youth AI Agent Venture Challenge, a free AI innovation and entrepreneurship competition for middle school students in Grades 5-8.

In its very first year, AgentVenture received 75 student registrations from across the nation. After several weeks of online workshops, project development, and preliminary review, 13 finalist teams were selected to present their projects during the 2026 AgentVenture Final Showcase & Pitch Competition on Sunday, August 9, 2026.

AgentVenture was created to help young students explore one of the most important emerging technologies shaping the future: AI agents. As AI continues to change how people learn, work, build, communicate, and solve problems, CFI Robotics NFP believes students should have the opportunity to understand not only how these tools work, but also how they can be used creatively and responsibly to address real-world needs.

A Vision for Young AI Innovators

The Final Showcase opened with remarks from Ren Li, Co-Founder and Board Chair of CFI Robotics NFP, who initiated the AgentVenture program. Li shared the vision behind the challenge: helping young students understand how AI agents may shape the future of learning, business, and problem-solving, while encouraging them to connect technology with real-world impact and entrepreneurial thinking.

The idea behind AgentVenture grew from a simple but powerful experience: seeing how a student-created AI agent could solve a real operational need. That experience helped inspire a broader vision for a youth program where students could learn to connect technology, problem-solving, and entrepreneurship from an early age.

A Youth-Led Program from Planning to Final Pitch

AgentVenture was led by Jeffery Cao, Project Manager, together with student leaders Jenny Mei, President (Rising senior, Brookfield East High School, WI) , and Luke He, Vice President (Rising Sophomore, Illinois Math and Science Academy). The High School Leadership Team helped lead workshops, answer student questions, support technical setup, and assist with the preliminary review process.

Throughout the program, students learned about AI agent basics, problem selection, solution design, visual workflow prototyping, and pitch preparation. Teams submitted both a project slide deck and an AI agent workflow/prototype for preliminary review before the finalist teams advanced to the Final Showcase.

The official program structure asked students to identify a real-world problem, design an AI agent solution, build a visual workflow prototype using n8n, submit their project materials, and pitch live at the hybrid final event.

A key part of AgentVenture’s first-year success was the five-week online workshop series led and supported by the AgentVenture High School Leadership Team. For many students and families, AI agents, visual workflow design, and n8n were entirely new concepts. The workshops helped participants move step by step from understanding what an AI agent is, to identifying a meaningful real-world problem, designing a solution, building a workflow prototype, and preparing a final venture pitch. The leadership team also answered questions, provided technical guidance, and encouraged students throughout the challenge season.

CFI Robotics NFP extends special appreciation to the student leaders who supported workshops, technology, student communication, preliminary review, and final event operations, including Pavani Gupta, Aniha Venkat, Rishtha Errabelli, Jack Lang, Derrick Xianto, Hridhaan Vohra, and Thomas Liu. Their commitment, patience, and leadership helped transform AgentVenture from a new idea into a meaningful learning experience for middle school students.

A Successful Hybrid Final Showcase

This year’s competition was in a hybrid format. Finalist teams presented both in person at the CFI Center in Chicago and virtually from other locations. This allowed students beyond the local Chicago area to participate in the final event and created an important foundation for AgentVenture’s future national and international growth.

This year’s finalists included local in-person teams, hybrid teams, and virtual teams. The program also welcomed participation from students beyond the United States, including students from Singapore and Russia, reflecting AgentVenture’s potential to become a broader national and global youth AI learning opportunity.

Finalist Projects and Student Innovation

This year’s 13 finalist teams presented a wide range of creative AI agent ideas, showing how middle school students can use technology to think deeply about real-world challenges. Their projects reflected creativity, problem-solving, communication, and the ability to connect emerging technology with practical needs.

Judges, Awards, and Recognition

The final presentations were reviewed by a panel of judges with backgrounds in AI, science, finance, engineering, education, business, and technology. CFI Robotics NFP is deeply grateful to all judges, volunteers, student leaders, parents, and community members who supported the first year of AgentVenture.

During the award ceremony, Brian Meadows, Executive Director of CFI Robotics NFP and one of this year’s judges, together with Jeffery Cao, AgentVenture Project Manager, recognized finalist teams and presented awards to students.

To recognize students’ hard work and innovation, CFI Robotics NFP sponsored cash awards for the top three teams: $100 for 1st Place, $50 for 2nd Place, and $40 for 3rd Place.

Looking Ahead

As AgentVenture looks ahead, CFI Robotics NFP hopes to continue expanding the program and reaching more students each year. In the future, CFI hopes to welcome more students from across the United States and around the world, while also developing additional AI agent fundamentals learning opportunities for young innovators.

Because AgentVenture is offered free of charge to students, continued support from families, sponsors, judges, mentors, schools, community partners, and volunteers will be essential. CFI Robotics NFP welcomes individuals and organizations who would like to support the growth of AgentVenture and help make AI innovation and entrepreneurship education accessible to more young learners.

The first year of AgentVenture showed what is possible when students are given the opportunity to build AI agents, solve real problems, and launch their ventures. CFI Robotics NFP is proud of every participant and excited to continue empowering the next generation of AI innovators.

About CFI Robotics NFP

CFI Robotics NFP is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering young minds through hands-on STEAM education, robotics, AI and emerging technology programs, project-based learning, youth leadership, and community engagement. Through competitions, workshops, online academy programs, research presentation opportunities, and innovation-based learning experiences, CFI Robotics NFP helps students build confidence, creativity, technical skills, and real-world problem-solving abilities.

To learn more about AgentVenture and future program opportunities, please visit:www.future-innovators.org/agentventure