New contest seeks inventors with big ideas
“Concept to Company” Consumer product contest opens today
By Cathy Mckitrick | The Salt Lake Tribune
Published April 16, 2012
Article Location: https://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/53911181-79/contest-cash-utah-grow.html.csp
The Kaysville-based Grow Utah Ventures, a nonprofit organization aimed at sparking the creation of new startup businesses, kicked off a Concept to Company contest Monday, pledging $40,000 in cash and services to help entrepreneurs get their consumer-product ideas off the ground.
Innovators with inventions that are tangible and require some degree of manufacturing are urged to apply.
“One of our often overlooked sectors is engineering and manufacturing,” Grow Utah Ventures President T. Craig Bott said in a recent statement.
“Utah has unique expertise and great capacity in this sector, and we are so pleased to dedicate this event to those who innovate and make great products,” Bott added, encouraging “anyone with a cool product idea and the drive to build it” to enter the contest.
Eight finalists will be chosen from the entire pool of applicants. They will get the opportunity to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges who have business and investing backgrounds. From the eight, the judges will then select three winners, who will present their concepts again during a June 6 CrowdPitch event. The audience will get to vote on their favorites by investing “CrowdCash.”
The grand prize winner will receive $5,000 in cash and $15,000 in services, while the two runners-up will each win $2,500 in cash and $7,500 in services. The NorthFront Business Resource Center in Kaysville and SEED Weber-Davis-Morgan is funding the cash prizes.
Applications for the contest are due by May 20. For more information and to apply, go to www.ConceptToCompany.org.
This contest is one of several sponsored by Grow Utah Venture. To date, Concept to Company competitions have awarded more than $500,000 in cash prizes and services and helped launch over 75 companies.
twitter: @catmck
Article Location: https://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/53911181-79/contest-cash-utah-grow.html.csp
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