PRIZES

Cash and in-kind prizes are as follows:

  • McCloskey Grand Prize:

$25,000 cash prize

  • Klau Family Prize for Greatest Social Impact:

$15,000 cash prize

  • IrishAngels Award

IrishAngels, an angel investing group affiliated with Notre Dame, will award one finalist the opportunity to pitch to its investors at the September 15, 2017 IrishAngels meeting on campus. The award does not guarantee funding, but the team will have access to mentorship from several IrishAngels investors whether an investment is made or not.Estimated value $25K with potential award of up to $250K. 

$150,000 in-kind services to be awarded to up to 3 teams selected to participate in the Plug & Play Startup Camp and Industry Specific Programs, a 10-week program designed to immerse startups and entrepreneurs into the Silicon Valley environment. Plug and Play Tech Center is a global platform that specializes in growing tech startups with over 250 investment portfolio such Lending Club, Zoosk, DropBox and SoundHound to name a few, Through a combination of structured workshops, VC and Corporate speaker series, mentoring and active coaching, founders will crystallize their ideas and business plans, build out their business model and prototypes as well as present their refined pitches to the venture capital community at EXPO day.  Those teams selected for this award are also will receive an investment of $25,000 in exchange of 5% their company upon qualification to join Plug & Play Investment portfolio family with over $25B valuation. 

  • McCloskey Runner-up prize(s):

$5,000 cash prize

  • Palo Alto Software Best Written Plans:

$2,000 in cash prizes (2-$1,000 cash awards given for the best student plans – one undergraduate student award and one graduate student award)

  • Sutherland Family Award for Best Presentation:

$5,000 cash award

  • Palo Alto Software: 

All participants will have FREE online access to Palo Alto Software’s LivePlan business planning software. All semifinal teams are provided with free access to LivePlan, a total value of more than $12,000.

$7,000 in cash and in-kind services for socially-innovative ventures

  • Schurz Participation Awards:

A total of up to $3,000 in cash awarded for teams participating in both the Schurz Innovation Challenge and the McCloskey Business Plan Competition.  These awards include the following:  $100 per team for up to 10 teams who submit 1st round entries to the McCloskey Competition; $200 per team for up to 10 teams who advance to round 2 and continue in the McCloskey Competition. 

ND-GAIN Climate Adaptation Prize​: ​$5,000 cash prize given by the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative (http://www.ndgain.org/) to the team with the most innovative approach to enhancing resilience and improving livelihoods in the face of climate change. Opportunity spaces include technologies, methods, processes, logistics that help improve food security, water access, coastal protection, ecosystem services, human habitats, infrastructure resiliency and other sectors that that are essential for livelihoods. 

  • First State Bank Business Banking Award:

$2,000 in cash and $3,000 in in-kind services

  • Fanning Center Award for Presentation Coaching:

$5,000 in in-kind services, to be awarded for presentation coaching for those teams selected to represent the University of Notre Dame at other national competitions

  • Office of Technology Transfer Award for Notre Dame Technology with Best Commercial Potential:

Up to $10,000 in patent reimbursement (ventures must be based upon ND intellectual property)

  • Innovation Park at Notre Dame Accelerator Award:

One (1) complimentary Greenhouse license for up to 3 people per team during the period of May 16 – August 12, 2017; awarded to all semifinalist teams.