Rules

How to Apply

Make sure you meet the eligibility requirements.
Sign up here. Registration for the 2015 MIT-CHIEF Business Plan Contest will be open on May 20th, 2015.
Round1 (online application) submission closes at 23:59 EST on July 17, 2015. The application includes basic questions for your startup. Semifinalists will be announced on our website and through emails. Feedbacks from judges will be visible to contestants in the submission site after judging.
Round2 (business plan) submission opens at 23:59 EST August 3rd, 2015. You are required to submit a full business plan and a short video(3mins) to provide details of your startup. Finalists will be announced on our website and through emails. This round will close at 23:59 EST on September 25th, 2015.

Eligibility

Your business idea

Your business idea must fall into at least one of our five tracks: Healthcare, Advanced Materials/Energy, Web/IT/Mobile, Products/Services, Smart Hardware/Robotics and Social Impact.
Applicants must have legal access to the technology they present. They can either be the owner or have written consent from the owner of the technology.
Business plans having advanced to the finale of previous MIT-CHIEF Business Plan Contests are not eligible for this year’s Business Plan Contest.

Your team

Every team must have at least two members.
Each person is allowed to be a member of at most two entries.

Your relationship with MIT-CHIEF

You are not eligible to participate into this contest if you are a member of the MIT-CHIEF Business Plan Contest organizing team, or the judge of the contest. Immediate family members of the aforementioned people are also ineligible.

Confidentiality

Materials submitted by the contestants are subjected to the following agreements:

Access to submitted executive summaries and business plans is only granted by the organizing team to the members of its judging panel. The MIT-CHIEF Board of Directors, the MIT-CHIEF IT team, and the Directors of the CONTEST are the only other individuals who may be provided access to the submitted executive summaries and business plans for organizational and event logistics purposes only.
Short descriptions of your business: short descriptions submitted during registration are viewed as open information. The MIT-CHIEF organizing team will use these descriptions for track allocation and marketing purposes.
Presentation in the finale: all information disclosed in the final presentation is viewed as open information. MIT CHIEF organizing team can use all disclosed information for marketing purposes.

If you have valuable intellectual property, please seek legal advice prior to submitting your application. If you have confusion about any details of our confidential rules, please contact us.