Finalists announced for 2010 Tulane Business Plan Competition

The developer of an orthopedic implant to help patients with osteoporosis undergo spinal surgery, a social enterprise to provide clean, affordable off-grid lighting to rural poor in the developing world, and the maker of a line of small wind turbines designed to make wind power cost competitive with electricity generated from non-renewable resources have been selected as the three finalists in this year's Tulane Business Plan Competition.

On Friday, April 16, teams representing those ventures—Cortical Concepts (Johns Hopkins University), Nuru Light (University of California, Berkeley) and Winduction (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)—will travel to New Orleans to pitch their plans to a panel of seven judges with a cash prize of $50,000 on the line. The three finalists were selected from among 93 applications submitted to this year’s competition, an all-time high.

“Orthopedic implants, clean, affordable lighting for the developing world, and cost-competitive wind power may not seem to have much in common, but each of these ventures demonstrated to our judges the potential to meet critical societal needs with innovative, sustainable solutions,” said Matt Dearmon, president of the Tulane Entrepreneurs Association. “After carefully evaluating all the entries submitted to this year’s competition, we feel confident these three exceptional ventures represent the best of the best.”

While the competition in recent years has offered two tracks—one dedicated to traditional business entrepreneurship and another to social entrepreneurship—this year’s competition does away with that distinction in favor of a new focus on the principles of conscious capitalism. In order to be considered, each venture had to demonstrate not only market potential but also the ability to positively affect all stakeholders and the society in which it operates. The Tulane Business Plan Competition is the first competition to incorporate principles of conscious capitalism into its requirements.

The 2010 Tulane Business Plan Competition will take place in Goldring/Woldenberg Hall II from 9 a.m. to 12 noon, with the winner to be announced later that evening at the Tulane Council of Entrepreneurs Awards Gala at the Westin Canal Place Hotel. The competition is free and open to the public, but space is limited. To reserve a seat in the audience, please visit https://nykotai.wufoo.com/forms/rsvp-tulane-business-plan-competition/

For more information about this year’s competition, please visit TulaneBusinessPlanCompetition.com.