Requirements

The iGEM Entrepreneurship Division aims primarily to educate students in the skills that make entrepreneurs successful, immerse them in the global entrepreneurial networks and have fun in the process of developing plans for and actually creating new organizations. As such, teams should be composed mostly of students enrolled in degree-granting programs. However, successful entrepreneurs seldom succeed alone. They are able to identify, attract, and work in teams composed of individuals with diverse and complementary skillsets, levels of experience and unique, sometimes clashing, viewpoints while still making progress and maintaining a team environment that invigorates team members. Below are some of the roles we expect all teams to have.

• Students: Undergraduate and graduate students in any discipline at an accredited college or university who have not yet earned their chosen degree [at the time of Team Registration i.e. March]. Each team should have at least four students, with half of the students being undergraduates. Undergraduates include students working towards a combined bachelor’s/master’s degree. Postgraduate students, or postdocs, may not be counted as graduate students but may serve advisors, but not primary advisors.

  Team structure: Students are responsible for the primary work of a team. Several schools may combine to form a team and one school may have several teams.

• Faculty Advisors: Each team must work with at least two faculty members, one from a school of management or business school, and one from any other disciple including, but not limited to, science, engineering, social sciences, medicine, law, and government. Additional faculty members may also be listed as faculty advisors.
• Primary Faculty Advisor: One of the faculty members must be designated as the primary faculty advisor. She or he is ultimately responsible for the official registration of the team, the team roster, and payment of team fees. The primary faculty advisor will also be the designated primary emergency contact for the team. The primary faculty advisor is required to attend the iGEM Entrepreneurship Jamboree on 06-07 November 2012 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, unless a substitute faculty or non-faculty advisor has been designated ahead of time.

Optional:

• Advisors: In addition to the required roles above, teams are encouraged to recruit non-faculty advisors, or simply advisors. Typical advisors include active and past entrepreneurs, faculty entrepreneurs on temporary leave, technical and non-technical industry practitioners and postdocs, legal advisors, policy and industry analysts, private equity (angels, VC's, PE funds) and corporate venture investors and anyone else that may provide advice and connect the team to a trusted network of advisors, potential customers, suppliers, partners, funding agencies, and regulatory authorities.

• Team registration: A $1000USD registration fee is required for each team participating in the iGEM Entrepreneurship Division Competition.
• World Championship Jamboree attendance fee: $175USD is required for each undergraduate and $300USD for all other attendees for teams attending the World Championship Jamboree taking place 06-07 November 2012 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

The team's submission must be documented on the iGEM Wiki, including but not limited to a public executive summary, elevator pitch (max 3 min) video, and public presentation (Slides).

• Wiki: You have the freedom to be creative, but a few specific rules apply, and generally follow the collegiate iGEM Wiki requirements. See the wiki requirements.
• Business Plan Wiki: The Wiki for business plan submissions must at least include sections that show:
• The problem or opportunity being addressed.
• Details of the solution being proposed.
• The competitive landscape.
• Skillsets of the founding team and early employees and collaborators required.
• Information about the team.
• The team's competitive advantage.
• Proposed milestones.
• Business model.
• Funding requirements tied to milestones.
• Potential Risks.
• Actions suggested to mitigate risks.
• Attribution of work to team members, advisors, and others.
• If seeking investment, exit scenarios and appropropriately discounted yield calculations.

All participants are required to work hard to build positive contributions to society and have lots of fun.