Bulgarian Institute

About the competition - Bulgarian Institute for Management and Technology (BIMT) in cooperation Intel Education initiative  has taken the responsibility to run a Business Plan Competition in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) - part of the worldwide competition IBTEC (Intel Berkeley Technology Entrepreneurship Challenge) sponsored by the technology giant Intel. IBTEC is a joint project of Intel and Berkeley, University of California aiming to give students, alumni and local entrepreneurs the opportunity to work together to turn innovative ideas into successful businesses. The event involves teams from several countries from the CEE region: Bulgaria, Israel,  Hungary, Poland  Romania, Slovakia, Turkey, Czech Republic  Greece and Serbia.
The organizers would like to create a feeder challenge for CEE participants and send 2 teams to the worldwide one.

The Challenge is where the best engineers and scientists present how they plan to make the world a better place through their innovations and entrepreneurial skills. The Challenge partners with the best research institutions around the world and affiliates with regional business plan competitions to find the technologies and teams that can have the greatest impact. In its inaugural year, 2005, teams are coming from Mexico, Russia, Singapore and the United States.

Year after year, these competitions have helped to identify and promote promising business ideas through the education and exposure afforded by the competition's events, mentors and judges.

Rules - The Challenge showcases business opportunities with the greatest potential for a positive impact on society through the commercialization of new and innovative technologies.

Prizes
The winning teams of the semifinal screening based on electronic submission of 2-3-page executive summary will be invited to participate at the semifinals in Tel Aviv, October 11, 2009 with the flight and hotel expenses covered for two representative of the winning teams. Each participating country will have two selected teams at the semifinals  
The winner of the 2009 Technology Entrepreneurship Challenge in Central and Eastern Europe will receive a USD20,000 cash prize, second prize: USD10,000.
All participants will benefit from:
» the education and training provided during the application process
» introductions to potential investors
» publicity
» feedback from industry experts that will occur at the Competition

The first and second winners will be given the opportunity to participate in the world finals: Intel®+UC Berkeley Technology Entrepreneurship Challenge at Berkeley University, California, USA with flight and hotel expenses covered for 2 representative in each team.

Eligible sectors
Only business plans that make integral use of novel technology, such as technologies in the following industry categories, will be chosen to participate:
» Semiconductors, Manufacturing, and Hardware
» Mobile and Wireless
» Digital Home and Consumer Electronics
» Retail and Consumer Software
» Enterprise Software and IT
» Energy and Power Generation
» Nanotechnology
>Biotechnology

While the scope of technology innovation is not restricted to the above, plans without a strong technology focus may not be chosen to compete.

Eligible teams
Following conditions should apply:
1. Teams are typically of 3-4 people
2. Nationality of any of the following countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Israel Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Serbia,Turkey.
3. At least one team member currently pursuing undergraduate, graduate or PhD degree (the rest of could be: faculty members, entrepreneurs, businessmen)
4. Company to be established in one of the participating countries

Training
Consultations and training is provided to all by the organizers and by the partnering organizations in each country. Send an e-mail requesting individual consultations or training to: r.pavlova@bimtbg.com and you will be contacted within the next business day.

Jury
Jury members are notable venture capitalists and other industry and entrepreneurship experts.
Intel Capital chairs the judging committee.
Jury is selected based on the following criteria:

• Relevant professional experience (business, consulting and entrepreneurial)
• Field of expertise (investors, entrepreneurs, lawyers)
• Geographical location

Judging criteria
The main focus points of the judging criteria are:

• General: Innovation, uniqueness, feasibility, strategy, experience, competitive advantage and business model
• Market: Market size, growth, share, competition, and clients
• Products/Services
• Financials and funding requirements

The Challenge judging criteria will be structured to select the business opportunity with the greatest impact through the deployment of new technology. Emphasis will be placed on the deployment of emerging and innovative technology products and services, which have a high likelihood of generating significant benefits for all stakeholders, both investors and the broader industry system.

The judging committee will not be biased towards plans that generate the highest financial return, however a requirement for entry is that the proposed businesses can achieve a positive return within their proposed investment timeframe.

Confidentiality
The authors of the business plan will retain all rights to the plan regarding its use at all times prior to and following the competition except as stated below. All judges and administrative staff will agree on non-disclosure of materials submitted by competition participants. All materials will be destroyed after competition is completed, unless specific agreement is granted.

Please note, all public sessions of the competition, including oral presentations and question/answer sessions, are open to the public at large. Any and all of these public sessions may be broadcast to interested persons through media which may include radio, television and the Internet. Any data or information discussed or divulged in public sessions by entrants should be considered information that will likely enter the public realm. Submitting teams retain all proprietary rights.