Calling All Michigan Collegiate Entrepreneurs: Your Chance At $1 Million Is Running Out

DETROIT -- The chance at more than $1 million in cash prizes will soon run out for Michigan's collegiate innovators. The Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition has announced that its student application process will be closing on Sept. 27.

Students with creative and innovative ideas currently enrolled in undergraduate or graduate programs in a Michigan public or private university or college for the fall 2012 semester can apply at https://acceleratemi2.myreviewroom.com/.

Additional details regarding eligibility can be found at www.acceleratemichigan.org.

"We in Michigan take extreme pride in our higher-education system, especially the impact our students are having on driving innovation and entrepreneurship in the state," said Jeff Mason, executive director for the University Research Corridor. "Our students are essential to Michigan pushing forward as the driving force behind high-tech innovation in the Midwest. With the help of Accelerate Michigan, the world's next big entrepreneurial stars may very well rise from the likes of East Lansing, Ann Arbor or Detroit."

Semi-final investor pitches will begin Nov. 14 at the Westin Book Cadillac in downtown Detroit.

The Competition Finals and Gala Awards Celebration will be held the evening of Nov. 15 at Detroit's historic Orchestra Hall, where Accelerate Michigan and its partners will award more than $1 million in cash prizes, along with millions more of in-kind awards, to those businesses showing the most promise.

This year's judging panel will include experts from Michigan-based investment firms, companies and universities, as well as national and regional investors and venture capitalists. In addition to prizes, competition participants will have access to Michigan's entrepreneurial ecosystem, including wet labs, incubators and top talent from some of the world's leading research universities.