2020 Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition for Students (S$1 Million & business development opportunities)

The Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition invites the brightest minds from the world’s most entrepreneurial universities to come together to address the challenges of the 21^st century and reimagine the future.

The Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition (LKYGBPC) derives its name from Singapore’s founding Prime Minister, who developed the country’s defining business plan bringing Singapore onto the global stage. It is this spirit of entrepreneurship, innovation and ambition that the competition enshrines.

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The LKYGBPC offers a unique platform for the upcoming generation of global innovators and entrepreneurs to reimagine cities into smart, sustainable and resilient communities.

Organised by the Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IIE) at SMU, the 10th Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition has been titled ‘Reimagine Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Cities’, with various verticals on sustainable urban innovations.

Applicable technologies that facilitate solutions for the listed verticals may include blockchain, virtual & augmented reality, data analytics & artificial intelligence, internet of things (IoT), 5G, robotics and more.

Prize

There is a total of up to S$1 million worth of prizes to be won. The Grand Prize will be awarded to the top winner from each of the two categories. Finalists also stand a chance to win other thematic cash, investment and in-kind prizes such as:

• DBS Foundation Social Impact Prize
• Sino-Singapore Nanjing Eco Hi-tech Island Investment Prize
• NSCC Supercomputing Resource Prize
• and more.

Submission Requirement 

The following materials will be required for your application during the Preliminary Round. Failure to submit the materials online by the announced deadline will result in disqualification. 

• Executive Summary
  • Not more than 500 words, in pdf
  • File should be named in this format: Summary_TeamName.pdf
• Pitch Deck Presentation
  • Not more than 20 slides, in pdf
  • File should be named in this format: Presentation_TeamName.pdf

• Video presentation (Optional) 
  • This is encouraged but not required.
  • Video should be no longer than 5 minutes with preference for mp4 and resolution no greater than 360 pixel.
  • File should be named in this format: Video_TeamName.mp4
• All submitted materials must be the original work of the participating team.
• Each team is eligible to submit one idea. In the event of multiple submissions by a team, the last submission made by the team by the deadline will be considered for evaluation.
• All submitted executive summary and pitch deck presentation can only be in English or Chinese.
• All timings indicated are in the Singapore time zone (+0800 GMT).

Team Eligibility

Teams must meet all the following eligibility requirements in order to be selected to compete:

Category and Composition

Category 0 to 1: Pre-revenue teams/startups with novel technology or business model innovations

• Technology innovations that have emerged from academic research with commercialisation opportunities that may or may not be fully validated
• Innovative business models that may or may not be fully validated
• Team is in initial phases of ideation up to having a minimum viable product (MVP) that has yet to be launched in the market
• A team should make up of at least 2 persons and up to 5 persons

• The main applicant must be a polytechnic or full-time university students (including undergraduates, postgraduates and doctoral students) or university dropouts who did not complete their studies between 1 January 2015 to 25 July 2019, or alumnus of not more than five years upon graduation
• The main applicant must be a founder of the company (or part of the founding team if the company has not been incorporated)

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Category 1 to ∞: Revenue-generating early stage start-ups, up to Series A

• Startup is in phases of initial sales or looking to scale
• Typically, product or service has launched in the market, and is seeking their next customer(s) and/or to enter a new market
• A team should make up of at least 2 persons and up to 5 persons
• The main applicant must be a polytechnic or full-time university students (including undergraduates, postgraduates and doctoral students) or university dropouts who did not complete their studies between 1 January 2015 to 25 July 2019, or alumnus of not more than five years upon graduation
• The main applicant must be a founder of a company

Size

• Each team can have at least 2 and up to 5 members. 
• Each individual member may be a part of only 1 team. In the event that members are part of more than 1 team, all such teams will be disqualified.

Nature of Start-up

• The competition is for new, independent start-ups in the pre-seed, seed or early growth stages.  
• Buy-outs of existing businesses, expansions of existing companies, franchises, licensing agreements for distribution in a different geographical area, and spin-offs from existing corporations are not eligible for the competition. 

Timeline

CLICK HERE TO APPLY