Posted on April 21, 2010 by Christi Fish
(San Antonio)—Business and engineering students at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) will compete for $100,000 in business-related services and prizes at San Antonio’s largest business planning competition, UTSA’s $100,000 Student Technology Venture Competition. The competition will be held from 1-3 p.m. on Saturday, April 24 at the UTSA Downtown Campus in Buena Vista Street Building Room 1.326. The event is free and open to the public.
The biannual competition, hosted by UTSA’s Center for Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship (CITE), promotes student entrepreneurship by pairing engineering students who create viable new technologies with business students who create business plans to market those technologies through a viable start-up.
Ten teams of UTSA business and engineering students are competing in this year’s competition. Their companies represent a variety of new technologies with applications in renewable energy, smart electronic devices, healthcare and transportation. The teams will be judged by local academic, business and entrepreneurial experts on their business plan, the new technology and the team’s presentation. At the close of the daylong competition, some of the winning teams will have the opportunity to start and sell their companies.
“To our knowledge, this is the largest undergraduate new business competition in Texas, and the only competition of its kind San Antonio,” said Cory Hallam, director of UTSA CITE.
“Since our first competition three years ago, the business community has really stepped up to help our students launch their companies. With the help of our sponsors, we’re now offering students $100,000 in prizes, including consulting services, marketing services, office space, intellectual property protection and other benefits,” said Hallam.
UTSA’s $100,000 Student Technology Venture Competition is sponsored by the Texas Research Technology Foundation, Cox|Smith, the Harvard Business School Club of San Antonio and the San Antonio Technology Center.
“The tech start-up competition is a great experience for our students,” said Hallam. “The format gives them a chance to experience what it’s like to be an entrepreneur - and adding this context to their education is what differentiates them and UTSA as a premier university.”
CITE is an interdisciplinary center in the UTSA College of Business and the College of Engineering. The center focuses on fostering the growth of entrepreneurs and new technology-based ventures through a process of education, experiences, resources and support.
Please send your comments to: wendy.frost@utsa.edu
— Christi Fish
