PROGRAM COMPONENTS

Companies interested in applying must fill out and complete the online application by Wednesday, August 12 at 11:59 pm CST. Each application will be reviewed by the designated Entrepreneurship Center, and a select group of companies will be invited to pitch their innovations and companies to judges in a regional competition. The winning companies will be notified by September 8 whether or not they are selected as statewide semifinalists.

The semifinals competition will be held on September 24 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Each company will have seven minutes to present their businesses and innovations to a panel of judges in a fast pitch format. The winners of the semifinals will be announced at a reception following the competition. Six companies in each track will move on to the finals.

Companies selected for the finals will present for ten minutes before a panel of judges representing both the entrepreneurial and investment communities at a competition on November 10 at the University of Chicago’s Gleacher Center. The winners will be announced that evening at the closing reception during the 2010 Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Forecast. There will be one winner and one runner-up awarded for each track. The winners will each be awarded a $30,000 cash prize, while the runner-ups will each be awarded $10,000 cash prizes.

Travel stipends will be provided to semifinalist and finalist companies.