GLEQ hosted its Statewide Business Plan Competition Award Ceremony on Tuesday, June 18, 2013 at the James B. Henry Center on the Michigan State University campus. GLEQ announced over $216,000 in awards and partner organization Michigan Corps over $96,000 in Social Entrepreneurship prizes.

An event highlight was the presentation of the $100,000 SmartZone Award, sponsored by the Michigan SmartZones and funded through the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund. The award was presented to Plymouth-based BioSavita and received by Nalini Motwani, Ph.D., President and Chief Science Officer.

Other GLEQ Awards included:

Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award – Grace Hsai, Warmilu
Coach of the Year – John Gills, First Light
Vision to Action Challenge – Loch McCabe, Shepherd Advisors

Innovation Awards included:
Advanced Manufacturing – Covaron Advanced Materials
Lean Startup Information Technology – Lightmob, LLC
Michigan Medical Device – Arthroptics
Green Chemistry – GANTEC, Inc.
Alternative Energy – Inmatech

New Business Idea Awards included:
1st Place – DataSpeaks Health Solutions
2nd Place – OcuSano, Inc.
3rd Place – QTEK, LLC

Emerging Company Awards included:
1st Place – ENT Biotech Solutions, LLC
2nd Place – Inmatech
3rd Place - Ornicept

GLEQ will be giving out the next $100,000 SmartZone Award in the Spring 2013 cycle of the GLEQ Business Plan Competition. The award will be presented on June 18, 2013. There are extra steps and there are other qualifications to join the SmartZone Competition.

Please click here to find out more

Entrepreneurs will again have the opportunity to participate in the Fall and engage with one-on-one coaching and get judges’ feedback to build a better business. The three tracks for the fall are Emerging Company, New Business Idea and Vision to Action Challenge.

Registration opens: Monday, August 26
Registration closes:: Wednesday, October 30
Documents due:: Monday, December 16
Award announcement:: ACE’14, Thursday, January 30

GLEQ entrepreneurs are going strong. Here are a few exciting updates from across the state. Tell us your good news – and we’ll spread the word.

Message Blocks. SPARK Bootcamp wrapped up with Message Blocks as it's winning team. Learn more it in the Online WSJ. Go Len!
http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130603-909390.html

GLEQ and Michigan Corps have teamed up with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to bring the first ever state-wide Social Entrepreneurship business competition to the United States. The Pure Michigan Social Entrepreneurship Challenge will recognize just a few of the hundreds of entries on June 18 at Entrepreneur Connect. Are you one of our candidates? Take a look and see if all of the following criteria apply to you:

• Is the leader of your organization a tenacious leader with a
pragmatic vision?
• Does the solution address a clear social problem?
• Does the solution change systems, not just symptoms of the
problem?
• Does the model prioritize social impact over financial gain?
• Does the business model generate a sustainable funding
stream?

To listen to a recording of a webinar that will sketch out the above criteria, go to https://medc.adobeconnect.com/_a1051360766/p63gdyj7zq5/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal

Entrepreneur Connect drew over 500 to the James B. Henry Center in Lansing on Tuesday, June 18. Several of the breakout sessions were standing room only. We would sincerely like to thank our event sponsors:

MSU Innovation Center Brinks, Hofer, Gilson & Lione MSU Federal Credit Union MSU Bioeconomy Institute MSU Broad School – Entrepreneurship Institute Rehmann Bank of Ann Arbor LEAP Start Garden Automation Alley THAW/Consumer’s Energy