University of Maryland $75K Business Plan Competition

The UM $75K Business Plan Competition promotes the commercialization of innovative ideas and University-created technologies by offering faculty, students, and alumni prizes for the best new venture plans. The competition emphasizes learning by offering one-to-one coaching for finalists, as well as the experience of presenting ideas to an experienced panel of judges.

For the competition, a range of ideas will be sought and specific areas of interest include but are not limited to:

* Biotechnology ranging from biomedical devices to new drugs
* Technology solutions using software and/or hardware
* Products and Services
* Sustainable solutions to poverty with first and third-world applications
* Sustainable solutions to the deterioration of our planet

In the nine years since its inception, the competition has served as a launch point for the commercial success of previous winners. Squarespace Inc. is now a top Web publishing and blogging platform on the Internet, with multi-million dollars in revenue. Another recent recipient, MacroPhage, developed a business plan centered on distributed denial of services detection algorithm. This innovation was licensed to RioRey, Inc., a leading provider of protection against distributed denial of service attacks.

AnthroTronix Inc. saw $2 million in revenue in 2007, spun off a subsidiary AT KidSystems Inc. in 2005, and has received grants and contracts from the National Science Foundation, Department of Education and National Institutes of Health for R&D in the educational and rehabilitation arenas. The company has contracted with customers such as the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marines, DARPA, Lockheed Martin, and NASA. Castle Duncan received $2 million in funding, went public through a joint venture with Real Logic Inc., and is purchasing a 146,000-square-foot factory to produce its vehicles.

Alertus Technologies cites millions in revenue, having sold thousands of its Alertus Notifications Beacons. The company's customers include universities, school districts, military bases and international projects.

Chesapeake PERL realized revenues of $2.8 million in 2007 and has grown to 13 employees. The company has had several grants from NIH, as well as small business innovation research grants from both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Department of Energy. Chesapeake PERL is a supplied to a major agricultural chemical company. The company has expressed and received proteins in excess of 50, including some that no one else has done.

• Ian Fisk wrote (4 months ago):

  The William James Foundation invites you all to also consider participating in our Sustainable Business Competition. We focus heavily on feedback and have a total of $150k in prizes and cash, and all entrants must be for-profit multiple bottom line companies. See details at www.williamjamesfoundation.org/howtoenter.

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