2020 NW Entrepreneur Competition April 16 - to be held virtually

Thursday, April 16, 2020

Update: The Northwest Entrepreneur Competition (NEC) will be held virtually on April 16th and winners will be announced via email and social media platforms.

The Northwest Entrepreneur Competition (NEC) is a collaborative student startup competition dedicated to providing students with the invaluable academic exercise of implementing their innovative ideas for new businesses. With a total of $42,000 in prize money, the NEC provides young entrepreneurs with the necessary tools to turn a business plan into a life plan.

At the direction of the NEC Advisory Board, and due to our partner organizations suspending their own events through April 30th, the 2020 NEC Management team will complete the live presentation portion of the NEC via a conferencing solution such as Zoom or Skype, where student teams will present virtually to our judges, respecting the institutional, corporate, and personal requirements of social distancing and travel limitations that many of our stakeholders are affected by.

Virtual meeting links will be sent to participants and judges. Sponsors will continue to be recognized throughout the process and will also get recognized at the 2021 NEC.

For questions and concerns, please email venture@nic.edu.  

Proudly hosted by Spokane University District and North Idaho College.

Those wishing to compete can choose between three categories:

Avista's Technology Category – businesses encompassing new or emerging technologies, products and processes that generally involve intellectual property.

Traditional Business Category – businesses pursuing more traditional retail, manufacturing or service ventures. Social entrepreneurs and non-profit ventures also fall into this category.

Open Business Plan Category - these submissions are delineated by team composition rather than submission content. Any submission that has one or more community members, graduate students (including students studying in professional programs - pharmacy, nursing, etc.) or are participating in faculty lead research should submit within this category.