Entrepreneurs with a dream could win $100,000 to launch their company with the University of Queensland's Enterprize 2011 business competition.
Now in its 11th year, the University of Queensland (UQ) Business School is asking for entries from innovative Australians who are looking to showcase their ideas, attract investors and potentially win the cash needed to launch their start-up.
Previous winners include Melbourne-based Southern Innovation, which plans to bring its product to the market before the end of the year. The technology speeds up data analysis in radiation detection in devices including X-ray machines, CT scanners and explosives or drug detectors.
In 2009, the winning idea was CoolMe, a vest designed to cool firefighters and others working in intense heat conditions, and in 2008 a water recycling technology was rewarded with the top prize.
Southern Innovation managing director David Scoullar said: "We are now focusing on licensing our technology to a US company for global release."
Academic Dean and Head of UQ Business School, Professor Iain Watson, added: "We've had an extraordinary and diverse range of smart ideas and business models put forward over the years, and we are proud to reward the best with in-seed capital."
Enterprize 2011 entrants must submit their concept plans by July 22 and the finalists will be announced in August.
Finalists will then have a chance to impress the judges, venture capitalists and angel investors at a “Pitch Day” in October, when the winner will be chosen.
The five expert judges this year are: manager of Venture Capital Attraction, Invest Queensland, Department of State Development & Trade, Stewart Gow; NBC Capital managing director & chief investment officer Bruce Scott; OneVentures general partner Anne-Marie Birkill; Southern Cross Venture Partners founding manager Bob Christiansen; and chief executive officer of i.lab, Colin Kinner.