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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA device to perform chemical and biological analyses and an Internet-based company that helps raise money for mission trips won the top prizes yesterday at Purdue University’s 22nd annual Burton D. Morgan Business Plan Competition.
Microfluidic Innovations claimed the $30,000 prize in the division for graduate students. The company is developing a programmable lab-on-a-chip device to perform chemical and biological analyses with more precision, speed and at a lower cost than its competitors.
Mission MatchUp won $20,000 in the division for Purdue undergraduates. It operates a social networking Web site that provides custom interfaces for individuals to create, distribute and raise funds for service trips.
Teams had 15 minutes to present their business plans and 10 minutes to field questions from a panel of professors, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists serving as judges. The competition took place in Discovery Park’s Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship in West Lafayette.
In addition to the prize money, Indianapolis-based law firm Ice Miller LLP will provide free legal and consulting services for the top three finishers in the graduate division. The value of the services is $5,000 for first place, $3,000 for second and $2,000 for third.
The top three winners in each division also receive affiliate status at the Purdue Research Park, giving them access to business services there.
The late Burton D. Morgan was a Purdue grad who started 50 companies, six of which have become major corporations. They include Morgan Adhesives, one of the world’s largest makers of pressure-sensitive adhesives. He established the entrepreneurship competition in 1987 with an endowment gift to the university.
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