1. Who is eli­gi­ble to enter?

Stu­dents enrolled for at least 2 classes in a Michi­gan uni­ver­sity or col­lege in fall semes­ter 2011. If your com­pany is selected as a semi final­ist, at least two mem­bers of your team must be present on Novem­ber 16 — 17, 2011 in Ypsi­lanti, MI at the Accel­er­ate Michi­gan event to pitch in front of a live judg­ing panel and audience.

2. What kind of busi­ness idea can I submit?

With respect to sec­tor, we’re look­ing for a wide range of sub­mis­sions. While there are many great lifestyle busi­nesses (for exam­ple: bou­tiques, cafes, con­sult­ing firms), we’re look­ing for ideas that can scale and be valu­able job cre­ators. Licensed tech­nolo­gies from uni­ver­si­ties and research labs are encour­aged assum­ing they have not been com­mer­cial­ized previously.

3. How big can my team be?

There is no min­i­mum for the stu­dent com­pe­ti­tion, but no more than 3 peo­ple on a team can attend the Novem­ber event.

4. Who are the judges?

The judges con­sist of investors, sea­soned busi­ness peo­ple, mem­bers of the Michi­gan entre­pre­neur­ial community.

5. How will my intel­lec­tual prop­erty be protected?

See con­fi­den­tial­ity and IP.

6. If my intel­lec­tual prop­erty is not pro­tected, can I enter the competition?

Yes, but this being a pub­lic forum, we can­not guar­an­tee that your idea will remain confidential.

7. Is there a res­i­dency require­ment for the win­ning companies?

Yes, you must be an enrolled stu­dent at a Michi­gan uni­ver­sity or college.

8. Can I get a copy of the sub­mit­ted ideas?

The ini­tial abstracts pre­sented in the com­pe­ti­tion will not be made avail­able. How­ever, once a team makes the semi-finals, the YouTube videos will be acces­si­ble online.

9. Is there a fee for stu­dents to apply?

No. There is not a fee for students.