Made possible by the LWC Center for Entrepreneurship, Idea State U is open to students from any Kentucky college or university. The event invites student teams from all disciplines to research, design and present ideas for proposed business concepts. The students are competing for a share of over $100,000 in prize money.
Director of Community Education and Outreach at Lindsey Wilson College, Linda McKinley-Grider says the Idea State U statewide competition is a prestigious event.
“Lindsey Wilson has been participating in Idea State U competitions since 2015. We became a host school in 2016 because of the success we have had with our own entrepreneurial competitions,” said McKinley-Grider.
Last April, a team from Lindsey Wilson College won second place at the state level in the business model track of the competition. Michael Hart, a business administration student from Indianapolis, Ind., and Wes Murphy, a recreation and tourism student from Clarksville, Tenn., earned a second place finish in the business model category with their concept for Bison Adventure Gear.
Representatives from the Kentucky Innovation Network will be in attendance as well as officers from the Kentucky Department for Economic Development.
The competition will begin at 11:30 a.m. CT in the Norma and Glenn Hodge Center for Discipleship, 402 Helen Flatt Drive, Columbia, Ky. The students will display their ideas in an exposition format and then present their business concept to a panel of 12 judges.
The presentations begin at 1 p.m. CT in the Jim and Helen Lee Fugitte Science Center, 411 Helen Flatt Drive, and the awards ceremony will take place at 4 p.m. CT in the Hodge Center for Discipleship.