INDUSTRY

Organizers of the first International Nanotechnology Business Idea Competition today announced the names of judges who have agreed to preside over the October 28-29 NANO Week event. The panel thus far includes five venture capitalists, the CEO of a nanotechnology company, the leader of a major nanotechnology trade association, and a professor of business entrepreneurship. The venture capitalists on the panel are David Morgenthaler of Morgenthaler Ventures (Menlo Park, Calif.); Timothy Schigel of Blue Chip Venture Co. (Cincinnati); Craig Gomulka of Draper Triangle Ventures (Pittsburgh); Rob Miles of Koch Ventures (Dallas); and Brad Fogg of HB Fuller Ventures (St. Paul, Minn.). Other panelists include Don Blewett of the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship at Purdue University (West Lafayette, Ind.); Scott Rickert, chief executive officer of locally based Nanofilm, LLC; and Sean Murdock, the executive director of the NanoBusiness Alliance (New York). Organizers of the event anticipate a 15-judge panel will be in place to evaluate the submissions and select the finalists by the time NANO Week begins. The judges will award more than $75,000 in cash prizes to nanotechnology researchers from around the world. Awards will be presented in several categories, including best overall business idea. The first-, second- and third-place winners will receive cash prizes of $50,000, $15,000 and $10,000 respectively. Believed to be the first competition focused on the burgeoning market for nanotechnology, the business idea competition differs from traditional business plan competitions in that it is simply seeking submissions of concepts that have the potential to be profitable, nanotechnology-based businesses. There is a fee of $100 for each entry a team submits, and there is no limit to the number of submissions a team may enter. The deadline for submissions is September 27. For more information, including the complete rules, visit http://www.nano-network.org/competition . Purdue University, InTICE: the Institute for Technology Innovation, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship at Case Western Reserve University and the Nano-Network, a consortium of nanotechnology-minded scientists, entrepreneurs and supporting agencies in Northeast Ohio are organizing the event. "The International Nanotechnology Business Idea Competition was conceived as a means of shifting the thinking about nanotechnology from the laboratory to the development of real products and services," said Mark Brandt, founder and chairman of the Nano-Network. "The stellar panel of judges we have assembled reflects the excitement nanotechnology is generating in the capital markets." Organizers will invite the 25 finalists here to present their ideas before the judges, who will select the winners based on the ability of the business idea to fill a need and be commercialized. The winners will be announced at an October 29 awards luncheon.