GRAND RAPIDS ? West Michigan colleges are collaborating in mid-April at the second annual MWest Challenge to give entrepreneurially minded students the chance to grow new ventures based on their own ideas. A purse of $30,000 is on the line.
MWest Challenge is hosted by the Richard M. and Helen DeVos Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Seidman College of Business. The event is scheduled for April 17 at Grand Valley State University?s L.V. Eberhard Center in downtown Grand Rapids.
This year?s MWest Challenge includes 41 startup teams representing 100 students from Grand Valley State University and its University Partners ? Aquinas College, Calvin College, Kendall College of Art and Design, Cornerstone University, Davenport University, Grand Rapids Community College, Kuyper College and Hope College.
All teams will have the opportunity to compete for $30,000 in prize money. As a result of last year?s first annual MWest Challenge, seven teams incorporated a new business in Michigan, two times have since achieved sales, and three teams raised additional funding of $120,000, a four-X return.
New to this year?s event is the Health Care Innovation award, sponsored by Spectrum Health Innovations. The $5,000 award will help increase the success of new biomedical product concepts with commercialization opportunities in West Michigan?s growing life sciences corridor.
The event is sponsored by and in partnership with Atomic Object, GR Current, Spartan Innovations, Spectrum Health Innovations, Start Garden and Varnum LLP.
For more information, click on MWestChallenge.Com
