QPrize competition seeks next big wireless innovations

Qualcomm Inc. launched its second annual international venture investment competition at DEMO Fall 2010 to identify and fund the industry's most promising early-stage technology companies.

The Qualcomm Ventures QPrize competition distinguishes entrepreneurs in North America, Europe, China, South Korea, Israel and India. It will offer up to US$750,000 in total seed funding to help them translate their innovative business plans into reality.

Qualcomm Ventures QPrize competition is now open for submissions. It searches for promising industry leaders who possess the potential to shape the future of wireless communications and significantly impact their regional markets, eventually growing into profitable companies. Qualcomm has partnered with DEMO, the technology industry's launchpad for emerging technologies to give QPrize finalists additional exposure within the venture community.

QPrize finalists shall be invited to DEMO Spring 2011 wherein they will vie for the grand prize and receive an exhibit in the DEMO pavillion. The grand prize winner shall also receive stage time to present their technology to an audience of venture investors, news reporters, bloggers and other DEMO participants.

VP of Qualcomm Ventures, Nagraj Kashyap says, "Last year's QPrize featured such an exciting variety of new ideas that we decided to expand the competition into two additional regions – South Korea and Israel." He adds, "New mobile capabilities are being imagined and designed by creative entrepreneurs throughout the world. The QPrize competition helps these companies accelerate their ideas and get them to market more quickly."

The deadline for business plan submissions is on December 14, 2010. From the pool of competing participant entries, Qualcomm Ventures shall pick out up to six finalists from the six contest markets. The finalists will each be awarded US$100,000 (Euro 100,000 in Europe) of convertible note funding from Qualcomm, and the grand prize winner will receive an additional $150,000 of convertible note funding, totalling a prize of US$250,000 in venture financing. Entrants' submitted business plans will be examined by a panel of experts based on the merits of the technology innovation, market potential, the company's management capabilities and the attainability of the proposal's financial projections.