CU-Boulder business and engineering students will compete for $47,500 in prize money at the semi-annual Bank One Business Plan Competition Dec. 12.
Bank One's five-year support of the event has helped it grow into a nationally recognized competition.
This year's event on Dec. 12 for undergraduates and Dec. 13 for graduate students, offers student teams the opportunity to present a comprehensive plan that supports an innovative concept for a product or service. Local entrepreneurs and venture capitalists select the winners. National competitions in March for undergraduates are at Ball State University in Indiana and for graduate students at San Diego State University in California.
The event is hosted by the Robert H. and Beverly A. Deming Center for Entrepreneurship.
This is Bank One's final year of its five-year sponsorship. Bank One Colorado President Wayne Hutchens will serve on the judging panel and will receive special recognition in honor of Bank One's ongoing support. Bank One awards cash prizes for all winning teams and supports CU-Boulder's participation in the national case competitions.
Other contributors include Seagate; Bradley Feld; the Colorado Technology Incubator; Leopard; and Chrisman, Bynum & Johnson.
"The Bank One competition challenges students to create a strong management team and a viable business," said Kathy Simon, Deming Center director.
"The interaction between students and our business community is the strength of the Deming Center's approach to entrepreneurship education. Bank One and our other award sponsors have helped us grow this event into one of the top national competitions."
The Deming Center for Entrepreneurship is a joint program of the Leeds School of Business and the College of Engineering at CU-Boulder. The center supports entrepreneurship studies at the graduate and undergraduate levels in a "connected learning" environment between students and Colorado businesses.