U-M students dominate Accelerate Michigan semi-finals

Wednesday, December 1, 2010 | Source: Concentrate

Students from the University of Michigan are dominating the semi-finals of the collegiate portion of the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition, taking 18 of the 28 spots.

U-M students also made up a large percentage of the nearly 300 applications, coming in second only to Wayne State University and easily outpacing other colleges. Some of the semi-finalists include some widely-publicized U-M student startups, such as baby clothier Bebaroo and Own, a.k.a. Ergun Technologies. They are all competing for $50,000 in cash prizes.

Doug Neal, managing director for the Center for Entrepreneurship at U-M's College of Engineering, credits university programs like 1,000 Pitches for this participation level. The elevator pitch competition, organized by the Center for Entrepreneurship and MPowered, attracted more than 3,000 contestants in its third year.

"(The high turnout and placing of U-M startups) is part of the legacy of that," Neal says. "I would also say the number of courses and programs in entrepreneurship give our students a lot of places to practice their skills."

He also lauds the high number of student applications in the overall $1 million Accelerate Michigan competition. Roughly half of the applicants were students, a positive sign for Michigan's future economy. "You can look at it as an early indicator for where our state is headed," Neal says.

The Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition is offering $1 million in prizes to start-ups in Michigan or planning to move to Michigan. The idea is to showcase the state's entrepreneurial ecosystem to a large audience of investors in town for the Big Chill hockey game at Michigan Stadium on Dec. 11.

Source: Doug Neal, managing director for the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan's College of Engineering
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.