CHAMPAIGN, Ill. A reception will be held April 17 to mark the beginning of the second annual V. Dale Cozad Business Plan Competition at the University of Illinois.
The reception will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the atrium of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, 405 N. Mathews Ave., Urbana. Contest organizers will explain the competition rules at the reception.
The competition, sponsored by the UIs Technology Entrepreneur Center, is made possible through the generosity of Peter and Kim Fox and is named for Champaign entrepreneur and businessman V. Dale Cozad. The competition was created to encourage engineering, science and business students to form teams and draft plans for developing a technological idea into a viable commercial venture. Entrants compete for $20,000 in prize money, including a $12,000 first prize.
Competition rules require that one team member must be a UI student. Last years competition attracted 38 teams comprising a total of 97 students from nine colleges and 27 departments at the university, as well as alumni, faculty members, staff and students from other universities.
Larry Markoski and Julie Thompson, last year’s first-prize winners, are concluding negotiations with a distributor for their liquid chromatography invention.
This year’s contest is co-sponsored by the Office of Strategic Business Initiatives in the MBA program.
For more information about entering, call Mark Spencer at (217) 265-0032.
