<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><item href="/news/blog/2025/2025-smerd-competition.php" dsn="blogs"><type>Internal</type><external_link/><featured/><category>The Charger Blog</category><pubDate>11/25/2025</pubDate><title>Students Turn Ideas Into Impact at the 2025 SMERD Pitch Competition</title><description>University of New Haven students showcased bold, heartfelt, and highly practical solutions at this year’s SMERD Pitch Competition. Their ventures earned high praise and highlighted the power of student innovation.</description><hide-description/><author>Caitlin Truesdale</author><author-details>Office of Marketing and Communications</author-details><hide-author/><date>November 25, 2025</date><image><img src="https://newhaven.edu/_resources/images/business/news/2025/smerd-group.jpg" alt="smerd-group"/></image><image-caption>First- and second- place winners of the 2025 SMERD Pitch Competition.</image-caption><hide-image/><tags><tag>News</tag><tag>college-business</tag><tag>initiative-smerd-pitch</tag><tag>news-all</tag><tag>news-blog</tag><tag>program-grad-finance</tag><tag>program-ug-music-industry</tag><tag>year-2025</tag></tags></item>