The competition is open to all students of Oulu UAS. You can take part in the competition individually or in groups of 2–4 people. The members of a group can hail from different units within the Oulu UAS. The competition ideas will be described in public on a general level, but the exact content of the ideas will not be published.

The participating teams are responsible to make sure that the idea put forth does not infringe the rights of a third party. Each team/individual is also required to save their work and, upon the request of the evaluating committee, to deliver it anew to the organiser of the competition at any stage during the competition.

The Competition Stages

Stage I (5.9.–7.10.2011)

You can participate in the competition by filling in the registration form by the end of Stage I. Fill in the names of all team memers as well as their contact information. Describe the business idea in short. Prizes can be dealt out only to the participants, who have signed up according to the rules.

After the registration period, business trainers at the business incubator go through each business idea. All participants get feedback and advice on refining and clarifying the business idea.

All competing works are dealt with in confidence according to the rules of non-disclosure.

Stage II (20.10.–4.11.2011)

Stage II begins on 20th of October and ends on 4th of November 2011. All refined business ideas should be resubmitted with the registration form. The business trainers at the business incubator then evaluate the competing works, and choose the ten best ideas for the final.

Final stage (week 46)

The finalists are invited to the final. The teams/individuals prepare a 5-minute presentation of their idea and present it to the judges. The finalists should pay special attention on factors that can affect either positively or negatively on the opinion of the judges. It is well worth investing in the presentation!

Award ceremony

The award ceremony will be held at the auditorium of the School of Business and Information Management on 30th of November 2011 at 10.00.

Evaluation

Evaluation criteria are the following:

1. Exploitability in business operations
2. Competitive advantage
3. Innovativeness, and
4. Customer-orientation.

Because the final evaluation of the ideas is based primarily on the written presentation, the group/individual should pay special attention on it. Clarity, scope, choice of words, and presenting all information required are all very important aspects.

If justifiable, he jury withholds the right to not to award any competing work. The business idea competition does not bind students to do anything. However, during and after the competition the students have the right to study at the business incubator, and thus develop their business idea further. It is not possible to issue any official complaints on the allocation of the prizes, or on any other decisions made by the jury.

The jury will decide on any unclarities.

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