UQ students excel in international business competition

The University of Queensland team finished third overall in the inaugural Universitas 21 (U21) business plan competition held in Singapore this month.

The UQ team of 10 top undergraduate and MBA students competed against teams from 14 leading international universities.

The competition was the finale of the U21 Global Technology Entrepreneurship Summer School and Symposium, hosted by the National University of Singapore from July 5 to 14.

The competition called on students to demonstrate their commercialisation skills. The UQ team was chosen by UQ’s main commercialisation company, UniQuest and the internationally-accredited UQ Business School.

U21 Chair and UQ Vice Chancellor, Professor John Hay AC, said he was delighted with the team’s success in the competition.

“"This is an outstanding result for our UQ team and one which confirms the University`s strong commitment to promoting excellence in business and innovation,” said Professor Hay.

“Congratulations to the team in interpreting and demonstrating skills in commercialisation and for presenting a business plan highly appropriate for patented outcomes.”

The successful UQ team was comprised of four UQ students: three undergraduates studying for degrees in biotechnology, genetics and business respectively, and one MBA student.

Their business plan was written for a real-life UQ innovation – a patented novel drug for pain treatment, which is being commercialised by UniQuest.

Led by the youngest mentor at the event, Douglas Bugden, 23, from UniQuest, the team beat leading universities from Europe, Canada, the United Kingdom and Asia.

The business plan competition was won by a team from the University of Auckland, while second place was awarded to the University of Virginia.

UniQuest Managing Director, David Henderson said it was essential university students understood the commercialisation process.

“Intellectual property is a valuable resource that many students fail to capture, so by educating our students we ensure that they can realise the potential value of their research from the outset,” said Mr Henderson.

“UniQuest is committed to helping educate UQ students by taking part in programs like the U21 summer school and holding an annual commercialisation workshop for UQ PhD students.”

Head of UQ Business School Professor Tim Brailsford said the team`s performance reflected the strength and vitality of the solid business grounding provided by the Business School.

“This outcome is consistent with the school`s approach to internationalisation by providing international opportunities to students and graduates demonstrated by the school`s AACSB and EQUIS accreditation.”

For more information, contact Julia Renaud by telephone on 07 3365 6937 or 0438 436 179 (mobile), or by email at j.renaud@uniquest.com.au