New York Business Plan Competition
New York Business Plan Competition | Spring Semester:
The New York Business Plan Competition (NYBPC), established in 2009, is a premier venture creation and innovation competition designed to foster entrepreneurship and innovation across the state.
Open to students from colleges and universities throughout New York, the competition encourages participants to transform their business ideas into reality.Top teams from each region will advance to the final statewide competition, where they will compete for a range of prestigious cash and in-kind prizes.
Join us in celebrating innovation and entrepreneurship as the best teams across New York state compete for the chance to bring their visionary ideas to life!
Currently enrolled eligible students from accredited New York colleges and universities in the Finger Lakes Region are encouraged to submit the online application around a student-born innovation that is designed for a currently unmet need. The Regional Contest and Statewide Final Competition do not require the submission of a full business plan. All applications must be submitted online.
After a Preliminary Judging round, selected regional contest semi-finalists will be invited to give a 6 to 8-minute presentation followed by 6 minutes of Q&A from a panel of regional judges.
The semi-finalist presentation round is a free event open to the public – teams are encouraged to invite friends, family, and faculty! The top two teams from each category (for a total of up to 12 teams from the Finger Lakes region) will be selected to participate in the Statewide Competition where they will compete against finalists from the other nine regions in New York. The judges reserve the right to select less than 12 teams from the Finger Lakes region based on the quality of the entries and presentations.
Statewide Competition finalists will be required to give a 6 to 8-minute presentation followed by 6 minutes of Q&A from a panel of statewide judges. Winners of the cash prizes will be announced on the day of the Statewide Competition.
- All applications must be submitted online. Part one of the application consists of the online form and will determine your eligibility.
- In part two, you will be required to upload a maximum 1-page PDF executive summary, a slide deck in PPTX format, and a 6-8 minute video.
- Teams must consist of graduate, undergraduate, and/or community college students enrolled part- or full-time in a micro-credential, certificate, or degree program in accredited New York colleges and universities during the current academic year (defined as August – July). Students who graduate during the Fall semester are still eligible to compete in the competition during the Spring semester. All students are eligible, including exchange students.
- Presenter(s) must be eligible student(s) in all stages of the competition.
- Teams may compete in only one region per year and students may not participate on more than one team per year.
- Grand prize winning teams from previous NYBPC competitions are not eligible to compete again (they are encouraged to participate as speakers, mentors, volunteers, and judges!). Individual members of winning teams may return with new teams in subsequent years.
- Judges and regional organizers reserve the right to relocate entries into another category that fits the business idea.
For teams with incorporated ventures:
- Cumulative public and private capital raised may not exceed $100,000. (This does not include research funding that may have supported the development of the technology in an academic laboratory.)
- For business ventures that are incorporated, they must be majority student-owned (more than 50%). For teams that are unincorporated, the majority of contributions need to come from students, such that should an organization become incorporated, the organization would be majority student-owned.
Read the 2026 Rule Book for a complete description of the eligibility and guidelines for the competition.