Thirteen teams with business concepts that could create a better world will compete in the finals of the Ideas to SERVE (Socially and Environmentally Responsible Value Enhancement) Competition on March 10 at Georgia Tech College of Management.

They will present their concepts at a special presentation of the IMPACT Speaker Series, called Students Who IMPACT, at 4:30 p.m. in LeCraw Auditorium. A panel of judges will select the winners, with the awards announced at 6 p.m.

Part of the annual Georgia Tech Business Plan Competition organized by the Institute for Leadership and Entrepreneurship, the Ideas to SERVE Competition is open to all Georgia Tech students and recent alumni who have an early-stage product/service idea or venture concept that could help solve social issues or sustain the environment.

Roughly 25 undergraduate and graduate students, representing a variety of disciplines from engineering and architecture to management, will compete for $12,000 in combined prizes.

Each team will have three minutes to present their ideas, and then will answer questions from the judges. Winners will be announced at 6 p.m. Attendees can vote on their favorite idea and will be eligible for various door prizes.

Teams and individuals representing eight ideas are finalists in two Ideas 2 SERVE (I2S) categories, Social Solutions and Environmental Solutions. Another eight teams will compete for the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation Award, which recognizes ideas that help mitigate poverty’s effects on Georgia’s low-income families. Three teams overlap and are competing in both categories.

"This competition fills a niche that's very valuable, not only to the College of Management, but also to Georgia Tech as a whole," says ILE research scientist Dóri Pap. "It really showcases the Institute’'s best examples of social entrepreneurship."

Various prizes with a range of monetary values will be offered, such as the Social Entrepreneurship and the Sustainable Systems prizes, which are $1,250 each. A People’s Choice Winner, chosen by the audience, will win $500. A total of $5,000 will be distributed to various winners of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation Prizes.

Judges include Jerome A. Atkinson, a retired executive vice president with Fortune 500 company Assurant Inc.; Ann Cramer, a director with IBM Corporation; Val Peterson, former president of the ARCS Foundation—Colorado Chapter, which raised money for science scholarships; and Bill Todd, president and CEO of the Georgia Cancer Coalition. Kathleen Kurre, CEO of TechBridge and founder of Fusion Advisors LLC, will host the event.

Competition finalists were decided at a poster competition held on March 4.

I2S Finalists

• Developing World Energy Solutions: Turning Waste Into Watts
• LifeTape
• SecondWind
• Done with DOTS
• One Motion Syringe
• Pneumera
• The Honey Dryer
• YITE, The Sahelian Gasification Cookstove

Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation Award Finalists

• LifeTape
• AgVert
• Done with DOTS
• INDIAbetes
• Pneumera
• Rent to Own Housing
• Wonderfoods & Wonderfull
• Young Social Entrepreneurs Project