HOUSTON – Johnson Space Center’s Advanced Planning Office, in conjunction with the JSC Space Life Sciences Directorate, for the fourth straight year is supporting the Rice Business Plan Competition by funding awards totaling $45,000.
The JSC Game Changer Commercial Space Innovation Award will be a prize of $25,000, and the Earth/Space Life Science Innovation Award will be a prize of $20,000.
“Small business innovation is critical to the success of NASA programs. We want to continue to collaborate with the bright minds that compete in the Rice Business Plan Competition,” said David Leestma, director of JSC’s Advanced Planning Office. “NASA believes it is important to build upon and to capitalize on the entrepreneurial spirit of Americans to achieve great things for our country.”
The Rice Business Plan Competition is a three-day event to be held in April and is intended to simulate the real-world process of entrepreneurs soliciting start-up funds from early stage investors and venture capital firms. The 2011 Rice University Business Plan Competition is hosted by the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship and the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University. Teams will compete for more than $1.2 million in prizes, including $600,000 in investment offers and more than $600,000 in other cash prizes.
For more information about JSC’s Advanced Planning Office visit:
http://technology.jsc.nasa.gov/
– end –
text-only version of this release
Josh Byerly
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111