Submission deadline approaching for $100K New York Business Plan Competition

Each year, hundreds of New York college students pitch their business ideas in the hopes of winning a $100,000 prize to work on it.

The New York Business Plan Competition pits students from all 10 of New York’s Regional Economic Development Council zones, from Albany to the Finger Lakes, New York City, Long Island and the rest of them, against each other in a competition for who can build the most compelling business.

The deadline for submission for the New York City region is March 10. On March 31, there will be a formal pitch competition for those selected by the competition’s committee at Long Island University’s Brooklyn campus in Downtown Brooklyn.

There are six categories of business for students to focus on:

• Information Technology/Software
• Social Entrepreneurship/Non-profit
• Clean technology
• Advanced technology
• Product
• Services

Two winners from each of the six categories will advance to the statewide final in in Albany on April 28.

Last year’s statewide winner was Dual:Lock, a gun lock that uses biometric technology, based out of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.