(cross-posted from www.pfcup.com.au)
Yesterday evening’s mix’n'match event kicked off the season for the Peter Farrell Cup challenge (run by the CIE) and the Social Entrepreneurship Competition (in partnership with the CSI). Peter Kazacos, CIE Board member and generous sponsor of the Social Entrepreneurship Competition, attended the event and was delighted to hear about all the exciting ideas students were preparing to submit to both competitions.
The event began with a welcoming introduction by Dr. Martin Bliemel, who outlined the series of workshops leading up to the finals (26 Oct for the PFCup, and 27 Oct for the SEComp) and what factors judges would focus on for the PFCup competition. This was followed by an explanation from Cheryl Kernot of the CSI about the evaluation criteria for SEComp entries, and some wise words of inspiration by Peter Kazacos. After these addresses, the audience of over 40 students and even some faculty broke into networking mode to discuss ideas and crystallize team composition.
Last year, this very event catalyzed the TaxiApps team to work on their idea and submit it to the competition. They ended up winning the 2010 Peter Farrell Cup, and went on to win 2nd place at the John Heine Challenge in Adelaide. Since then, they have used the prizes from the competitions to fund the development of goCatch, which is now available for free via the iTunes store, and are actively pitching their business to the angel community. They attended last night’s event and helped inspire the next generation of participants to pursue their dream.
Based on some of the ideas we overheard floating through noise of the networking event, this is going to be a great season of entrepreneurship competitions!
