The Tufts Gordon Institutes Entrepreneurial Leadership Program (ELP) will offer a new Tufts Ideas Competition this spring semester, allowing participants the opportunity to have their preliminary business ideas judged in a competitive environment.
According to ELS Lecturer Inge Milde, manager of the competition, this new initiative represents an attempt to provide an alternative to the annual Tufts $100K Social and Classic New Ventures Competition (formerly the Tufts $100K Business Plan Competition) for students whose entrepreneurial initiatives may not be at the advanced stage expected by the $100K Competition.
Last year we had an unprecedented number of applicants for the Tufts $100K [Competition], Milde said. What we noticed was that there were quite a few applicants
who were very strong, but maybe didnt have quite enough meat on the bone ... but they seemed like very promising ideas.
Milde explained that by creating a new competition geared toward applicants with early stage business ideas, ELP could provide an opportunity to further develop applicants proposals and initiatives.
Instead of one champion, the Ideas Competition will crown three to five winners, according to Milde. These participants will be invited to take part in a series of workshops designed for the finalists of the $100K Competition, Milde said. In addition, Ideas Competition winners will receive a $1,000 cash prize.
Milde added that the workshops would provide a golden opportunity for the winners to advance their entrepreneurial ideas and meet useful people.
According to Milde, submissions to the new competition will be judged by screeners chosen by Senior Lecturer and Director of the ELP at the Tufts Gordon Institute James Barlow. These screeners, she said, will be similar to those already used in the $100K Competition, which last year included alumni and faculty members.
Milde expressed confidence that the number of the applicants to the new competition would be substantial.
I hope that we get a lot [of submissions] because you can submit multiple times to the Ideas Competition, she said.
Milde hoped that the Ideas Competition would encourage future applicants for the $100K Competition.
The idea then is that [the Ideas Competition winners] can enter [the $100K Competition] next year, and even if theyre graduating, the $100K [Competition] has recently been opened up to recent alumni, she said.
Although the Ideas Competition, in contrast to the $100K Competition, is not open to alumni, Milde emphasized that it is also intended to be a university-wide contest that is open to Tufts faculty and staff as well as students.
It is not just about the Gordon Institute or the Entrepreneurial Leadership Program, she said. This is about students at [the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences], [the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine], [The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy], the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, the New England Conservatory. All these people are encouraged to apply.
