Contact: Robbie Ward
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Mississippi State will be the sole American university sponsor for the first part of the Global Security Challenge business plan competition.
To begin on Sept. 5, the competition offers entrepreneurs in the security field an opportunity to win a $500,000 grant and mentorship by leading venture capitalists.
Based in London, England, the annual worldwide competition seeks to identify the most promising security start-ups, as well as innovators who are developing new technologies that could "make the world a safer place," said Simon Schneider, Global Security Challenge's co-director.
The competition is open to individuals and newly established companies offering technology-based security solutions ranging from encryption software to biometric applications, he explained.
Schneider said the Technical Support Working Group, a U.S. governmental interagency group usually referred to by the acronym TSWG, will fund the $500,000 grant for the winner of the overall competition. In addition to the grant, the winner will receive a mentorship from venture capitalists such as the Washington, D.C.-based Paladin Capital Group, a private equity firm that launched a $235 million Homeland Security fund in 2004.
Earlier this year, GSC joined with MSU to host the U.S. semifinal in Washington, D.C., where the top five North American selections will present business plans to a panel of judges. Entrants must submit executive summaries of their business ideas before June 30. (Guidelines and the timetable are available at www.GlobalSecurityChallenge.com .)
Other regional semifinals will be held in Singapore and Germany. The five overall finalists will present their business plans at the final event hosted Nov. 8 by London Business School.
Kirk Schulz, MSU's vice president for research and economic development, said the competition should stimulate considerable interest among high-technology companies for entrepreneurs. The land-grant institution shares many goals of the competition, particularly in finding ways to transform research into commercialized products, techniques and concepts, he added.
"As a leading research university and catalyst for growing the innovation-based economy in our state, we appreciate the opportunity GSC provides for researchers in the security sector to learn about business aspects of their inventions and to meet potential partners for their ventures," Schulz said.
Mississippi State traditionally has been among U.S. research institutions ranked in the top 10 percent by the National Science Foundation based on recent science and engineering research expenditures. The university's aggressive technology commercialization program emphasizes engineering and agriculture.
In recent years the university established the Thad Cochran Endowment for Entrepreneurship, along with collaborating with federal agencies and industries to help increase technology-oriented start-up companies. Among the collaborators and sponsors are the U.S. departments of Defense and Energy, NASA, General Electric, Northrop Grumman, EADS/American Eurocopter, Boeing, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Israeli Aerospace Industry, and the Mississippi Technology Alliance.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For more info about the Global Security Challenge, contact Mr. Simon Schneider at press@globalsecuritychallenge.com or visit www.globalsecuritychallenge.com.
For specific details about MSU's role, contact Dr. Melvin Ray, MSU associate vice president for economic development, at 662-325-3570 or melvin@ra.msstate.edu.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.