It's competition season, and several key deadlines are fast approaching.
Executive summaries for the Global Social Venture Competition are due Wednesday, Jan. 20. Last year, more than 300 international teams entered the student-led contest, which has awarded more than $250,000 to promising social ventures since 1999.
The finals will be held in Berkeley from April 22-23, and will be open to the public with pre-registration. Visit www.gsvc.org for more information.
Jan. 27 is the deadline to submit executive summaries for the UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition, which has developed a prestigious national reputation since its founding by two Berkeley MBA students in 1998. The contest attracted more than 100 teams of students, alumni and local entrepreneurs last year. Teams win exposure and compete for the $20,000 grand prize or several $5,000 prizes.
Public finals will be held in Berkeley on April 29. Details are available at bplan.berkeley.edu/.
On Feb. 5, six graduate student teams will compete in the UC Berkeley Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC), vying to advance to regional and then national finals. The teams beat out 31 other entrants. The VCIC turns business plan competitions upside-down, with students acting as venture capitalists to evaluate opportunities – while being judged by experienced venture capitalists.
To learn more, visit entrepreneurship.berkeley.edu/business_competitions/vcic.
All three competitions are hosted by the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.