Tufts Business Plan Competition

Members of the Tufts community are encouraged to submit their big ideas to the ninth annual Tufts $100K Business Plan Competition, sponsored by the Gordon Institute’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Program.

There are two competition categories to enter: the classic venture and social entrepreneurship. Highlighted by Forbes as one of the 15 biggest university-sponsored competitions, the Business Plan Competition is aimed at encouraging commercialization of innovation within Tufts University. The $100,000 awards are given in cash and such in-kind services as legal and other advisory consultations.

Full-time Tufts undergraduates and graduate students, as well as full-time faculty and staff and alumni who graduated within the last five years, are eligible to enter. Full-time students at Tufts’ partnership schools—the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and the New England Conservatory—who have successfully completed at least one ELS course may also enter.

Entries will be accepted from Feb. 8 through midnight on Feb. 22. To enter, answers to a series of questions must be submitted through the YouNoodle site. Full business plans are not required for the initial submission, but finalists, who will be announced in mid-March, will be required to submit plans for the April 24 competition.

Adrienne Dreyfus, E13, won last year’s classic business plan competition with PriceTrack, a service to provide consumers with the sale prices for their favorite brands, while at the same time giving merchandisers information about consumers’ behavior. Hillary Sieber, A12, won the social entrepreneurship competition with Keepin’ Tabs, a communications and management tool for tablet computers to empower older adults to manage their schedules, health and lives.

An information session will held this Wednesday, Feb. 6, from noon to 1 p.m. at Anderson Hall’s Burden Lounge (1st floor) on the Medford/Somerville campus.