COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. University of Colorado at Colorado Springs students who demonstrate entrepreneurship, organization, and an ability to work in cross-disciplinary teams, will be eligible for cash awards, courtesy of a local foundation.
Colorado Springs-based Petritz Foundation, in cooperation with the College of Business and Administration’s Center for Entrepreneurship, will sponsor a business plan competition open to all CU-Colorado Springs students. Among the criteria for winning the competition, and a $3,000 first prize, is a multi-disciplinary team approach. Teams are encouraged to have members who represent various academic disciplines at the university.
“These are the type of partnerships we would like to see between the business community and the College of Business that create win-win opportunities for students, faculty, and business leaders,” Venkat Reddy, interim dean, College of Business and Administration said. “We are proud to participate in a venture that recognizes future entrepreneurs.”
“This is intended to be a campus-wide contest,” Ben Martz, professor, Business, said. “This isn’t about a few business students getting together. It’s about students from any discipline — business, engineering, communications, biology, or physics to name just a few — joining together to generate new ideas. It’s the merging of ideas from a variety of perspectives that counts.”
First prize winners will receive $3,000; runners-up will receive $1,500 and the university will receive $500 for contest administration expenses, according to Jeff Cooper, executive director, of The Petritz Foundation, and a local risk capital investor. The prize monies can be used at the students’ discretion. Winners will be chosen in Spring 2005 by a panel of community business leaders.
“In the real world, fast-growing small businesses succeed not in spite of the management team’s disparate backgrounds but because of them,” Cooper said. “Interdisciplinary education paves the way for better team functioning. Learning to work and communicate with people different from ourselves, who collectively make or break the company, is the key to U.S. competitiveness in the future.”
For contest details, contact the Center for Entrepreneurship, 262-3870, or Martz, 262-3414.
The Petritz Foundation is located in Colorado Springs and was created by Richard L. Petritz, a former professor, entrepreneur and venture capitalist. The foundation’s activities support his interests in science, entrepreneurship, and excellence in performing arts. The Richard Petritz Foundation does not accept unsolicited grant proposals and instead prefers to work closely with local non-profits in the development and execution of innovative approaches in education, health services and performing arts.
CU-Colorado Springs, located on Austin Bluffs Parkway in northeast Colorado Springs, is the fastest growing university in Colorado and one of the fastest growing universities in the nation. The university offers 25 bachelor’s degrees, 17 master’s and two doctoral degrees. The campus enrolls about 7,800 students annually.