Winning Teams of M.B.A. Entrepreneur StudentsAnnounced at San Diego State University's...

Business Editors

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 5, 2000

San Diego State University's Entrepreneurial Management Center (EMC) is pleased to announce the winners of Venture Challenge 2000, the EMC's 11th Annual International Business Plan Competition which concluded on Saturday,

The 3-day event, sponsored by Qualcomm Inc., Nasdaq, Sempra Energy, Motorola, Enterprise Partners, Vcapital.com and The Townsend Agency, drew a record number of attendees including successful entrepreneurs, investors, professional service providers, and business, academic and community leaders. One of the event's highlights featured keynote speaker, Alfred R. Berkeley, president of the Nasdaq Stock Market who presented comparisons of stock markets worldwide to more than 700 people.

"We are proud to have hosted twenty teams of blossoming entrepreneurs from around the globe," said Alex DeNoble Ph.D., Venture Challenge 2000 Director. "The continued success of the EMC's Business Plan Competition is a vital venue in bringing our community together by building a gateway between entrepreneurs and the community."

The Winning team, iNTER3D.com, from the University of Wisconsin, was awarded the $10,000 Grand Prize, to be used as seed money to launch the students' new venture. The start-up company has created a new paradigm in the CAD software industry by using its patented Web-based CAD and 3D modeling technologies to create a supply chain link between industrial supply catalogs, industrial parts manufacturers and mechanical designers.

The Second Place Team, Sunburst Inc., from the University of Oregon, develops, markets and distributes infrared vegetation control equipment for managing unwanted vegetation in a variety of urban, industrial, and agricultural settings. The company's products can reduce the need for herbicides where weed control is desired.

Awarded Third Place was the I.T.E.S.M. team from Monterrey Institute of Technology in Mexico. Their mission is to design, manufacture, and commercialize handmade artisan photo frames with high quality standards for national and international markets. I.T.E.S.M. plans to support the development of Mexico by offering work opportunities to handicapped individuals.

About Venture Challenge 2000

Since 1989, The San Diego State University's Entrepreneurial Management Center has hosted the Annual International Student Business Plan Competition recently named Venture Challenge 2000. An exceptional learning opportunity for entrepreneurial students, the competition has grown from a modest internal competition, to hosting more than 200 teams worldwide. In 1990, the event went statewide, national in 1991 and international in 1997 including colleges and universities throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Australia, Sweden, Thailand, Ecuador, South Africa and Russia.

In addition to the competition, the judging panel meets with each team in a spirit of consultation and feedback where teams discuss their business plans in a non-competitive format. This element of the event provides students with the opportunity to talk with a panel of experts about how to turn their business plans into successful ventures.

About the San Diego State University Entrepreneurial Management Center

The SDSU Entrepreneurial Management Center was created in 1982 to provide students, organizations and individuals with education focusing on the application of the underlying principles and perspectives of entrepreneurship. The EMC's objective is to help people improve their chances of achieving success by becoming immersed in all stages of the entrepreneurial process in both the classroom and the marketplace.

In December 1994, the EMC began operating with its own 2500 sq. ft. facility and staff on the SDSU campus. Today, the EMC supports the SDSU College of Business Administration, which offers full- and part-time programs and coursework in Entrepreneurship at the graduate and undergraduate levels. The resources available at the EMC include an extensive entrepreneurship-related library with a 27-volume index of actual business plans, a state-of-the-art boardroom and numerous affiliations with local and national entrepreneurial organizations. In addition, EMC programs provide students, faculty and the community with opportunities for understanding and implementing concepts of entrepreneurship for business creation and growth.