WEST LAFAYETTE – Purdue University and the University of Notre Dame have teamed up with state officials to offer Indiana’s first business plan competition that targets startup ventures and emerging nanotechnology companies.

            The Nanotechnology New Ventures Competition is March 25, 2011, and is offering prizes totaling $57,000 to top researchers or entrepreneurs developing novel technologies or services.

            Nanotechnology involves making devices on the atomic and molecular level that can be used in the computer, medical, military and other industries. Annual sales of nanotechnology devices are expected to hit $1 trillion worldwide by 2015.

            “This competition is designed to foster research in the nanotechnology arena moving from the laboratory as intellectual property into the marketplace,” said Richard Cosier of the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship at Purdue University.

            “This inaugural competition provides a valuable opportunity for entrepreneurs working in a cutting-edge technology field to draw on the deep expertise of business experts in developing a viable business plan,” said Carolyn Y. Woo, the Martin J. Gillen Dean of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business.

            Also participating is the Indiana Economic Development Corp. and Indiana’s Midwest Institute of Nanoelectronics Discovery (MIND). The latter is an alliance involving Purdue, Notre Dame, the Nanoelectronics Research Initiative of the Semiconductor Research Corp., the state of Indiana, the city of South Bend, Argonne National Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, the University of Illinois, Pennsylvania State University and the University of Michigan.

            Free workshops for participants will be 9-11 a.m. Oct. 29 at Purdue and 5:30-7:30 p.m. Nov. 30 at Notre Dame. Executive summaries are due Dec. 21, and semifinalists will be announced Jan. 11, 2011.