Northwestern NU Teams Win Big at Rice Business Plan Competition

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
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EVANSTON, Ill. --- Northwestern University teams representing faculty and students from four schools swept the awards in the Rice Business Plan Competition this weekend -- with NuMat Technologies winning the grand prize and three major awards worth a total of more than $874,000.</p>

<p>The competition is the world’s richest and largest graduate-level business plan competition. Forty-two teams from around the world competed in front of 250 judges for more than $1.5 million in prizes. The emerging companies from graduate schools around the world had to pitch their best business ideas to venture capitalist and industry experts seeking startups in which to invest.

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<p>Business</a> Pitches Win Big : Northwestern University Newscenter</p>

<p>Eight Prizes of $100,000 or more:</p>

<p>$450,000 GOOSE Society of Texas Grand Prize - NuMat Technologies, Northwestern University
$125,000 OWL Investment Prize - NuMat Technologies, Northwestern University
$100,000 DFJ Mercury Tech Transfer Investment Prize - Lemm Technologies, Purdue University
$100,000 Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Clean Tech Innovation Prize - NuMat Technologies, Northwestern
$100,000 Waste Management “Think Green”® Investment Prize - Mimas Nanotechnologies, Northwestern
$100,000 Opportunity HoustonSM Life Science Technology Prize - Medtric Biotech, Purdue University
$100,000 Opportunity HoustonSM Technology Prize - NuMat Technologies, Northwestern University
NEW $100,000 U.S. Department of Energy Clean Energy Prize - SolidEnergy, MIT</p>

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<p>This is very cool! </p>

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<p>“Entrepreneurship emerges as a result of connections between disciplines,” said Northwestern Provost Daniel Linzer. “By bringing together engineering, chemistry, business and law, NuMat helps move Northwestern research from the lab out into the market.”</p>

<p>…snip</p>

<p>“We’re excited about taking Northwestern cutting-edge research out of the lab and into the marketplace – where it belongs,” said Wilmer on behalf of the team. “We are also grateful to Northwestern for being so supportive of us and of student entrepreneurs in general.”</p>

<p>… snip</p>

<p>(The highly popular NUvention program – three entrepreneurship courses on energy innovation, Web-based businesses and medical innovation – has spawned a number of start-up companies. Industry leaders help teach the courses in which teams start with a product idea with the goal of ending up with a business.)</p>

<p>Both teams work out of the Northwestern University Incubator, a free office space in downtown Evanston that encourages entrepreneurship among faculty, students and alumni.</p>

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<p>I also loved reading about some of the winning technologies – very exciting work!!</p>

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<p>[2012</a> Rice Business Plan Competition Awards $1.55 Million in Prizes ? Richest Ever : Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship - Rice University](<a href=“http://rbpc.rice.edu/RBPC2012_Winners_PressRelease/]2012”>http://rbpc.rice.edu/RBPC2012_Winners_PressRelease/) gives more details for the various awards.</p>

<p>It doesn’t surprise me. NU has been putting a lot of emphasis on designs and innovation. Designing real products for industry clients is a requirement for all freshmen in the engineering school. Here’s one example of the projects students have done.
[McCormick</a> ByDesign](<a href=“http://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu/magazine/FA2007/EDC.html]McCormick”>http://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu/magazine/FA2007/EDC.html)</p>

<p>We have had students, some of them as undergrads, winning competitions against even teams from industry firms.
[Segal</a> Design Institute News Archive](<a href=“DESIGN INNOVATION - Segal Design Institute, Northwestern University”>DESIGN INNOVATION - Segal Design Institute, Northwestern University)</p>

<p>A couple years ago, when Bloomberg Businessweek published a list of “World’s Best Design Schools”, two programs from Northwestern was on it.<br>
[World’s</a> Best Design Schools: Northwestern University - BusinessWeek](<a href=“http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/09/0930_worlds_best_design_schools/17.htm]World’s”>http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/09/0930_worlds_best_design_schools/17.htm)</p>