Australia’s richest business plan competition, offering $100,000 for one savvy Australian business, reached its conclusion at the Queensland State Library in Brisbane last Wednesday night. I was fortunate enough to attend (and deliver the keynote speech).
Seven highly innovative companies pitched for the prestige, accolades and enormous novelty cheque awarded to the overall winner (along with $100,000 in real Australian currency, of course).
Finalists included a wheelchair technology that can be steered by thought, a knee tissue transplant alternative, a vaccine patch, an online management tool for the medical profession and that’s just to whet your appetite. To check out the full seven, watch the videos below.
However, as Christopher Lambert once said, there can be only one.
In its 10th year, the Enterprize Business Plan Competition, a national program conducted by the University of Queensland Business School, awarded its top prize to Southern Innovation, a startup company commercialising an industry changing technology that will dramatically improve the performance of radiation detectors. You might find the name familiar. Southern Innovation was recognised as a Finalist in Anthill’s 2009 Cool Company Awards.
Does this company deserve $100k in seed funding? Heck, yeah! Now watch the clip.
Southern Innovation, Winner, Enterprize Business Plan Competition 2010
Southern Innovations core technology SI-Toro®, the subject of more than ten years of research and development and aims to improve the performance of radiation detectors.
Vaxxas, Finalist, Enterprize Business Plan Competition 2010 (Women in Technology, Audience Choice Award)
Vaxxas is developing a needle free vaccine delivery solution, the Nanopatch, which, in work to date, has demonstrated unprecedented performance in amplifying vaccine efficacy by 150-fold.
ReadCloud, Finalist, Enterprize Business Plan Competition 2010
ReadCloud turns existing laptops and mobile devices into ebook readers.
MiniGen, Finalist, Enterprize Business Plan Competition 2010
MeniGen is commercialising Actiform Meniscal Replacement Product for the repair of damaged and torn menisci in the knee.
SpecialistLink, Finalist, Enterprize Business Plan Competition 2010
Bringing eHealth to the Underserved $4.1B Allied Health Profession. SpecialistLink is Australia’s first e-health service targeting the $4.1B Australian allied health profession, enabling electronic health records and communications and remote pre-diagnosis.
Aviator, Finalist, Enterprize Business Plan Competition 2010
Aviator is commercialising the development of hands-free control systems for devices, allowing the user to harness the freedom of their mind.
Lachesis , Finalist, Enterprize Business Plan Competition 2010
Lachesis is a start-up venture to commercialise a cuffless, compact, wearable device that can monitor Heart Rate, Blood Oxygen Levels, Mean Arterial Blood Pressure, Systolic Blood Pressure and Diastolic Blood Pressure simultaneously.
UQ Business School’s Enterprize Competition is open to all Australian entrepreneurs with a business idea that is ready to launch. Now in its 10th year Enterprize provides seed capital to promising start-up companies and gives participants the opportunity to have their business plan reviewed by potential investors. To find out more about the awards (and start getting your business plan ready for next year), visit: http://enterprize.uq.edu.au/.
