25K Award for New Entrepreneurs PDF Print E-mail
The Ulster Business School and The Office of Innovation at the University of Ulster in association with the Northern Ireland Science Park (NISP) launches the £25k Competition 2009.

The purpose of the £25K contest is to identify, qualify, prepare and present the intellectual property from the publicly funded research base in Northern Ireland with the most commercial potential.

Winners are announced in September before an audience of more that 250 top executives, entrepreneurs, investors, service providers, and academics. It is a great opportunity to meet the innovators of the next great technology in the categories of:
  • Hitech
  • Biotech
  • CleanTech
  • Digital Media and Software

Why Enter
The Entrepreneurship Award, which is now in its ninth year, is designed to encourage staff and students from Northern Ireland’s research community to act on their talent, ideas and energy to produce tomorrow's leading firms. The refinement process of the competition, its network of mentors, investors and potential partners, and the cash prizes awarded have helped many of these teams of the past to act on their dreams and build their own companies and fortunes.

The 25K Competition provides teams who enter with valuable resources in the following areas crucial to successful entrepreneurship:
  • Networks of world-class entrepreneurs, investors, and potential partners
  • Mentorship by successful and seasoned professionals
  • Education in specific business planning skills as well as general entrepreneurial insight
  • Content rich feedback on their business model from world class entrepreneurs, investors, and professional service providers on our Judging Panel
  • Teambuilding opportunities to create a winning team of founders
  • Access to members of the private equity community
  • Broad media exposure and PR buzz
Categories
Hi tech inc information technology, communications, hardware, electronics, security and wireless
Clean Technology inc Energy Efficiency, Smart Power, Renewables, Transportation and Water Management
Bio tech (Life Sciences)    inc Diagnostics & Research Tools, Medical Devices and Therapeutics
Digital Media & Software inc Digital animation and visual f/x,  Web & mobile content,  Film TV & music content , Multimedia and eLearning , Gaming and  Software        

Prizes
Overall Winner £10,000

Category winners:
        Hitech £2,500
        Biotech £2,500
        CleanTech £2,500
        Digital Media and Software £2,500

Top 10 finalists £500 each

Entry Criteria
1. The competition is open to any masters or PhD students, research staff, doctors, nurses in any facility where public money is spent on R&D. Undergraduate students are encouraged to enter the Student Enterprise Awards, however, undergrads will be welcome to enter if they have developed potentially breakthrough science or technology
2. A team or individual can enter many times with many different ideas or technologies
3. Ideas that have made it into the top ten in previous years are NOT able to reapply
The Competition is open to staff and students from Northern Ireland’s research community .The competition will follow the stages below which lead to the final Awards Ceremony:
 

Calendar
24 April 2009         Executive summaries: Deadline for receipt of 2-page Pro forma
The initial registration requires a 2-page synopsis of your idea, to be submitted to This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it The closing date is Friday 24th April 2008.
 
The pro-forma is available in Word and PDF format here:
2 page executive summary - Click to download Word DOC
2 page executive summary – Click to download Acrobat PDF

20 finalists selected, 5 in each of the four categories

3 June 2009         QuickPitch Competition
            Five minute quick pitches from the top 20 present.
            First round judging concludes, 10 finalists selected

24 June 2009         Mentor workshop       
Half-day workshop session where each team in the top ten works with a team of two people: one investor (VC or angel investor) and one experienced entrepreneur or executive to test the assumptions in the first draft of the team’s business model.

24 July 2009         Deadline for receipt of 25 page business plans
A sample Business Plan is available here:
Sample Business Plan - Click to download Acrobat PDF
  
August 2009        Second round judging of plans

9 September 2009    The big pitch
            Finalist 15 minute business model presentations and Q&A
            
24 Sept 2009         25k Awards Dinner
            Winners announced at the awards event

Further information and Support
Further information and ongoing support is available from NICENT email Dr Cecilia Hegarty at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it and from Co-ordinators of Academic Enterprise in each faculty:

Arts – Ms Janet Coulter : This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
Business & Management – Dr Norry McBride : This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
Engineering – Mr. Jonathan Wallace : This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
Life & Health Sciences – Mr. Peter Mitchell : This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
Social Sciences – Dr Fred Morrison : This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

More information on the Award is also available at www.25kaward.co.uk.
 
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