2025 Minnesota Crucible Prize
The Department of Chemical Engineering & Materials Science (CEMS) hosts the Minnesota Crucible Prize commercialization competition for entrepreneur and intrapreneur students and postdoctoral scholars of the University of Minnesota focused on chemicals and materials technologies. The Prize is made possible by the generous support of Dr. Navjot Singh (PhD ChE '94) and Nithya Iyer Singh (MS Pharmaceutics '94) with the aim of fostering entrepreneurship among the CEMS community of faculty and students.
Top Prize: $2000
2nd Prize: $500
3rd Prize: $250
Registration deadline: Wednesday, January 22nd
Description. Students will be evaluated by a board of commercialization experts in their ability to provide a 10-minute pitch of their proposed business, followed by 5-10 minutes of questioning. Each team will be scored based on the quality of their pitch and the likelihood of future commercial success, as evaluated by the independent board.
Presentation. Competing 10-minute presentations should include at least an introduction of the team, a description of the chemical or materials product offering and value proposition, analysis of the market and associated competition and risks, the execution strategy, and the proposed financial strategy.
Sign-Up. Competing entries must register online by Wednesday, January 22nd by providing a description of the team and your proposal at this Google Form.
Presentation Abstract. Please provide 7-10 sentences describing your technology and startup company pitch. Should the prize competition receive more than 10 entries, this abstract will be used to select the 8 applications that are most responsive to the topic of "Chemicals and Materials Commercialization".
Pitch Presentation Evaluation Board. The pitch evaluation board will consist of three people with expertise in business development from the Twin Cities area. The pitches will be evaluated based on their ability to communicate the startup company (and not the technology itself).
Questions related to the Crucible Prize should be directed to Professor Paul Dauenhauer ([email protected]). Prizes are awarded in value with the requirements of the university and may be in non-cash form (e.g., tuition benefit).
