NASA Announces Awards for 2012 Space Frontier Business Plan Competition

NASA’s Ames Research Center, in conjunction with NASAs Office of the Chief Technologists Emerging Space Office, is continuing its support for the Space Frontier Foundations annual Business Plan Competition by funding this years awards totaling $110,000.
The Space Frontier Foundation Business Plan Competition will be held during a three-day event at NASA Ames in July. The NASA supported Emerging Space Grand Prize will include an award of $100,000 for the best business plan with the potential to contribute to space development. NASA also is supporting a second prize of $10,000.

As NASAs Silicon Valley center, were continuing our tradition of supporting entrepreneurs and encouraging the venture capital community to become familiar with the new opportunities that are emerging in space, said NASA Ames Research Center Director Pete Worden. Part of our role is to encourage economic growth and development and at NASA, we look to build on some of the nations strongest assets to do so including our skilled technical workforce, our commercial creativity and our entrepreneurial spirit.

The Business Plan Competition is designed for new, independent companies in the seed, start-up, or early growth stages. The competition simulates the real-world process of entrepreneurs soliciting for start-up funds from early stage investors and venture capital firms.

The competition traditionally includes a review of business plan submissions by space industry experts and investors and a OEBoot Camp where the finalist teams will receive expert training in promoting and developing business plans.

In order to be eligible, competing companies should have technologies or products that potentially could contribute to the expansion of economic activity in space. Competition finalists will pitch their business plans publicly and be judged by a panel of world-class entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and finance professionals.

The Space Frontier Foundation is an organization dedicated to opening the space frontier to human settlement as rapidly as possible. Its goals include protecting Earth’s fragile biosphere, creating a freer and more prosperous life for each generation by using the unlimited energy and material resources of space, and unleashing the power of free enterprise to establish a permanent human presence in space.

For more information about NASA’s Office of the Chief Technologist, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/oct

For more information about the Space Frontier Foundation Business Plan Competition and how to participate, visit: http://newspacebpc.com

For more information about Space Frontier Foundation, visit: http://spacefrontier.org/

For more information about Ames, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ames