60 teams from around Central New York will be competing in the CompeteCNY + RvD iPrize business competition, hosted by the Syracuse University School of Information Studies, this Friday afternoon at Bird Library. This year’s competition includes 49 teams from Syracuse University and 11 from LeMoyne, SUNY Oswego and Colgate University who are competing in the regional qualifier for the NYS Business Plan Competition.
This year, teams applied in the following categories:
- AgTech & Food: 8 applicant teams
- Consumer Products & Services: 20 applicant teams
- Energy & Environment: 3 applicant teams
- MedTech & Well-Being: 7 applicant teams
- Military & First Responder: 1 applicant team
- Technology & Entertainment: 22 applicant teams
Teams will make five minute pitches in these groupings for the following prize amounts, in six rooms:
- One room — AgTech & Food and Energy & Environment: $6,000
- Two rooms — Consumer Products & Services: $14,000 ($7,000 per room)
- One room — MedTech & Well-Being and Military & First Responder: $6,000
- Two rooms — Technology & Entertainment: $14,000 ($7,000 per room)
Pitches are open. Judges have been selected by the iSchool.
The schedule is:
- 1:00-1:30 p.m. – check-in (Bird Library)
- 1:30-2:00 p.m. – Judges’ Briefing
- 2:00-4:30 p.m. – Pitches
- 2:00-5:00 p.m. – Demo Alley
- 4:30-5:00 p.m. – Judges Deliberation
- 5:00-5:30 p.m. – Awards Ceremony
- 4:30-6:00 p.m. – Innovation Celebration Party (catered reception hosted by the iSchool)
The RvD Fund is named after former iSchool dean Raymond Von Dran. He served from 1995 to 2007, when he passed away. Ray was a long-time academic entrepreneur who started many innovative programs in higher education and supported student innovation and entrepreneurship. His wife, Gisela, ensured that her husband’s infectious spirit for innovation lived on through the creation of the RvD fund after his death.
$50,000 is available for Syracuse students via the RvD iPrize – awarded to top participants in the competition, held every year in March. $40,000 of this prize amount is provided from the iSchool’s RvD fund, and $10,000 from the Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award.
This year’s event will also celebrate a decade of student entrepreneurship at the iSchool under the leadership of Dean Liz Liddy who is retiring at the end of this semester.
For more information: https://ischool.syr.edu/academics/special-initiatives/iprize/