Enterprising graduate students of business may leave Iowa State $8,000 richer than expected.

A competition to create the best business plan for a new company has been developed to “help promote the concept of entrepreneurship so graduates can go into the world and start a business,” said Sree Nilakanta, associate professor of management.

Nilakanta is one of three professors who have agreed to assist students in the project. Along with him is Sanjeev Argarwal, associate professor of marketing, and Gary Koppenhaver, associate professor of finance.

The students can use licensed technology from the Iowa State University Research Foundation or a concept developed on their own.

“Ideally what we’d like to have happen is that a team of graduate students will select a technology from the Iowa State University Foundation, open a business, and locate it in the Iowa State University Research Park…and when they graduate in May they go right to running their own business,” said project leader Koppenhaver.

Koppenhaver said while the company does not have to rely on technology from ISU, they will be given priority.

Any graduate student admitted to a degree program in the college of business is eligible for the competition. A team of ISU graduate students is also eligible provided the team leader is a graduate student in business, he said.

To help students develop their plans, a series of seminars has been scheduled to cover the different parts of planning a business. The second in the series, titled “Thinking About the New Product Development Process,” will be held on Oct. 22 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in Carver Hall, Room 290.

“You don’t have to go to the seminars in order to apply, or be considered for the competition,” Koppenhaver said, “but business plans are complicated enough that it probably won’t hurt to go to the seminars.”

The deadline for the plans is April 15. At the end of the spring semester three grants will be awarded, $8,000 for first place, $4,000 for second, and $2,000 for third.