Carnegie Mellon University in Cooperation with QBA and Qatar Science & Technology Park holds second New Venture Competition
Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar is teaming up with the Qatari Businessmen Association (QBA) and Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP) to organize the second New Venture Competition May 27-28 at Education City. In the competition, university students will have the opportunity to present their business plans to a panel of judges who are venture capitalists, successful entrepreneurs and leading educators.
The goal of the competition is to help students who have a great idea for a new venture move it from the classroom to the boardroom. The competition also creates an environment that helps bring new businesses to life, thus contributing to a more vibrant entrepreneurial culture in Qatar.
“This is a wonderful initiative for Qatar Foundation and for the Qatari society. The ideas we have come across are fresh, new and innovative, said Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani, Chairman Al Faisal Holding and Aamal Holding, who judged the competition last year. “It is a new milestone for Qatar. We hope to see more and more exciting projects in the future that will contribute to Qatar’s national vision and mission.”
The New Venture Competition is an initiative launched by Carnegie Mellon Qatar in partnership with the Qatari Businessmen Association (QBA) and with support from Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP).
The inaugural competition took place in May 2008. The first prize of QR 100,000 was awarded to CliniPharma for its plan to introduce a new treatment for asthma to the market. CliniPharma also won the Best New Technology prize, which entailed a year of mentorship to support technology and business development, offered by QSTP. A second place prize of QR 15,000 was awarded to KlearGreen, a façade cleaning robot for buildings. Third place and a cash prize of QR 10,000 went to QALAM, a project that aims to develop educational software infrastructure for schools.
This year’s teams will have a chance to win money prizes, sponsored by participating members of the QBA, as well as in-kind prizes from QSTP, to help them on their way with their new ventures. The New Venture Competition is open to students from Carnegie Mellon Qatar, College of the North Atlantic Qatar, Georgetown School of Foreign Service in Qatar, Northwestern University in Qatar, Qatar University, Texas A&M University at Qatar, Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar, and Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar. This event is not open to the public. For more information please visit www.qatar.cmu.edu/bpc.
ABOUT CARNEGIE MELLON
With more than a century of academic excellence and innovative research, Carnegie Mellon University is a global leader in education with real-world applications. Consistently top ranked, Carnegie Mellon offers a distinct mix of programs to its 10,000 students around the globe. Core values of innovation, creativity, problem solving and collaborative teamwork provide the foundation for everything we do.
At the invitation of Qatar Foundation, Carnegie Mellon joined Education City in 2004. Here, Qatar Foundation has created a world-class center for scholarship and research that is the ideal complement to Carnegie Mellon’s tradition of innovation through collaboration. Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar offers its highly regarded undergraduate programs in business administration, computer science and information systems to students in Qatar and the Gulf Region.