{"505271":{"#nid":"505271","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Brains Over Brawn: ACC Competition Focuses on Student Entrepreneurship","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAfter years of battling it out on football fields, students at ACC schools will compete in a new sport: the Atlantic Coast Conference InVenture Prize.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe contest will reward undergraduate students with cash prizes for innovations that aim to solve the world\u2019s big problems.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe inaugural competition will be held April 5 and 6 at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Teams of students representing each of the ACC\u2019s 15 universities will pitch their inventions or startups before a live audience and a panel of judges.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe competition is sponsored by the ACC Academic Consortium, which supports academic initiatives among member universities.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe tournament taps into the entrepreneurial spirit growing at college campuses. It is modeled after Georgia Tech\u2019s InVenture Prize, which started in 2009 to leverage the maker culture and encourage students to push their ideas even further.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022The Inventure Prize at Georgia Tech has proven to be a unique tool to promote educational objectives like creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship, all within a fun and friendly competitive environment that attracts participants and observers alike,\u201d said Rafael L. Bras, Georgia Tech\u2019s provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs. \u201cThe ACC provosts agreed that we shared the same educational objectives, and the InVenture format could serve all of us. I am proud that we will be the first to host the conference and share our expertise in what hopefully will be a popular new \u0027academic sport\u0027 for the benefit and enjoyment of ACC students and fans.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDuring the two-day program, students will tour Atlanta incubators and accelerators and meet with entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. Representatives from each college will share strategies their campuses use to foster innovation, said Chris Reaves, director of Undergraduate Research and Student Innovation at Georgia Tech and one of the contest organizers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe time is right to help students who have the energy, resources, and technology to grow the next business,\u201d Reaves said. \u201cThis competition will increase the chance of success for all the teams.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETeams will be judged in four areas \u2014 entrepreneurship; business model; quality of the idea; and the probability of becoming a successful business.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFirst-place wins $15,000 and the second place finisher earns $10,000.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA $5,000 People\u2019s Choice Award goes to the fans\u2019 favorite, which will be determined by online and text voting during the televised final round.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe 15 participating colleges are: Boston College, Clemson University, Duke University, Florida State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, North Carolina State, University of Notre Dame, Syracuse University, University of Louisville, University of Miami, University of North Carolina \u2013 Chapel Hill, University of Pittsburgh, University of Virginia, Virginia Polytechnic Institute \u0026amp; State University, and Wake Forest University.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EStudents from 15 institutions, including Georgia Tech, compete for $30,000 in prizes at the inaugural ACC InVenture Prize.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Students from 15 institutions, including Georgia Tech, compete for $30,000 in prizes at inaugural ACC InVenture Prize"}],"uid":"27918","created_gmt":"2016-02-25 09:58:48","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:20:53","author":"Laura Diamond","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-02-25T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2016-02-25T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"505261":{"id":"505261","type":"image","title":"ACC InVenture Prize logo","body":null,"created":"1456760341","gmt_created":"2016-02-29 15:39:01","changed":"1522856406","gmt_changed":"2018-04-04 15:40:06","alt":"","file":{"fid":"204818","name":"accinventureprizelogo.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/accinventureprizelogo.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/accinventureprizelogo.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":138374,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/accinventureprizelogo.jpg?itok=yfkQ7hvA"}}},"media_ids":["505261"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/accinventure.gatech.edu\/","title":"ACC InVenture Prize"},{"url":"http:\/\/inventureprize.gatech.edu\/","title":"The InVenture Prize web site"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"132","name":"Institute Leadership"},{"id":"133","name":"Special Events and Guest Speakers"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"7764","name":"InVenture Prize"},{"id":"169753","name":"student startups"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"106361","name":"Business and Economic Development"},{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"},{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ELaura Diamond\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003EGeorgia Tech Media Relations\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-894-6016\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["laura.diamond@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}