Competition challenges entrepreneurs

Innovation

Young entrepreneurs with innovative ideas for new businesses are gearing up for the University of Adelaide's Entrepreneurs' Challenge (or echallenge) that starts this month.

The $70,000 business planning competition is a joint University of Adelaide - Hewlett-Packard Australia initiative that aims to foster the successful development of new ideas into investment-ready, start-up companies.

Echallenge is run by the University's Education Centre for Innovation and Commercialisation (ECIC).

ECIC Acting Director Antonio Dottore said: "The Challenge stimulates innovation and entrepreneurship and creates genuine commercial prospects for the benefit of South Australia - and it works.

"As an example, 2004 echallenge runner-up Microbric has gone on to build a real business launching the hugely successful i-bot.

"Echallenge helps build entrepreneurial culture and is an effective way of creating employment opportunities and stimulating the business community."

The competition will be launched at the Advertiser building on Wednesday, May 10 and runs through to October, during which time teams of up to six students - all including at least one University of Adelaide student - develop a business plan for a new, previously unfunded concept.

Each semi-finalist team is offered an experienced business person as mentor and the final plans are judged by a panel of high-profile business executives.

Story by Robyn Mills