BETA Competition

BETA Competition

WSU's BETA competition
WSU student explains his team’s entrepreneurial idea to a BETA Competition judge
WSU's BETA competition
WSU student explains his team’s entrepreneurial idea to a BETA Competition judge

In 2006 I created and hosted WSU’s BETA competition. BETA is an acronym for Bridging Entrepreneurship, Technology, and the Arts; the BETA Competition encouraged WSU students and teams to develop entrepreneurial ideas which connected the arts with technology. Entries were judged on their innovation, feasibility, and scope. We offered over $7,000 total in prizes for the winning entries.

BETA’s judges, a dozen engineering, art and business leaders, evaluated the finalists of the competition in April 2006. The finalists gave presentations at the Ulrich Museum of Art in a trade-show format. At that time judges also gave applicants valuable feedback on feasibility, marketability, and artistic merit.

WSU’s BETA competition included a mentor program where teams of students could elect to work with a local business, technology, or art leaders to develop and refine their ideas as they prepared for the competition. Besides awarding cash prices one winning idea, a video synthesizer by Steve Wilson, was sponsored for further development — construction of a working prototype and a full business plan.

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