Semi-finalists Named in Annual Business Plan Competition

ERIE, Pa. – January 20, 2010 – Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, has announced 16 semi-finalists of the fifth annual Northwest Pennsylvania College Business Plan Competition. The semi-finalists include students from Penn State Behrend, Allegheny College and Mercyhurst College, and have been invited to submit full business plans for further consideration.

They are Adding Value, Calc Tech LLC, ClubCONNECT, Electrically Assisted Manufacturing, FastTrick.com, Fit Cart, Kilo-1 K-9 Training, Mass Transit e-Advertising, Medical Identification Cards, QAThat!.com, Self CheckOut, Six Mile Cellars LLC, Smart Arrow, Sunbridge, The Brake Blaster, and The USB-Minder Concept. A total of 59 concept papers were submitted.

The Business Plan Competition is sponsored by eBizITPA and three Keystone Innovation Zones—Erie, Northwest Pennsylvania and Tri-County. The competition gives regional college students the opportunity to compete for cash prizes while supporting economic development and entrepreneurship efforts in the region.

Individual students and integrated student teams from a range of disciplines, including engineering, healthcare, business and the arts, develop and submit brief business concepts. Students are encouraged to collaborate with regional businesses.

Full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students currently enrolled in the region’s colleges were eligible to participate. The nine eligible institutions were Penn State Behrend, Allegheny and Mercyhurst as well as Clarion University, Edinboro University, Gannon University, Penn State DuBois, Thiel College, and University of Pittsburgh at Titusville.

Retired executives from SCORE, Counselors of America’s Small Business Owners, Chapter 193 graded the concept papers.

Eight finalists will be named by March and will be eligible to win $13,000 in cash prizes provided by competition sponsors. Given to the top three entries, the cash awards are to be used in the pursuit of new businesses.

For contest information, visit ebizitpamedia.org/bizcontest.

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