The New York Business Plan Competition (NYBPC) is accepting applications through March 15 from graduate and undergraduate students from across Central New York colleges and universities for the regional qualifier, Compete CNY. Compete CNY will take place on March 25 and is being hosted by the Blackstone LaunchPad at Syracuse University Libraries. The top regional teams, as selected by regional business and community leaders, will progress to compete at the state level finals for NYBPC’s “Venture NY,” where they can win prize money and post-program mentorship. Compete CNY is open to any full-time or part-time undergraduate or graduate student enrolled in an accredited college or university in the Central New York Region (Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga and Oswego counties).
Students from regional colleges and universities should apply here for the Central New York competition and indicate Central New York as the region. Syracuse University students should also apply through the LaunchPad’s common application for all campus competitions, including the RvD iPrize and Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award competition, which will be held concurrently with Compete CNY.
Student teams applying for the competition cannot include those whose cumulative public and private capital raised exceeds $100,000, excluding research funding that may have supported the development of the technology in an academic setting.
Syracuse University students at the 2018 New York Business Plan Competition.
The Central New York regional qualifier is open to students from:
Top teams in six different vertical tracks will be selected at the regional qualifiers to move on to the statewide competition, coordinated by The Upstate Capital Foundation and The Upstate Capital Association of New York.
For the first time this year, the state finals will be held in Syracuse on April 27, and will feature winners of regional competitions in New York’s ten geographic zones—Capital Region, Central New York, North Country, Mohawk Valley, Finger Lakes, Western New York, Southern Tier, Mid-Hudson, New York City and Long Island.
