Oak Ridge's Tom Ballard says students learn through real-world experience.
"The goal of the program is really to encourage college students to become energized about entrepreneurship and to take intellectual ideas, convert them into products and convert those into companies - to start companies in locations wherever they may be so we have more entrepreneurs around the country helping fuel the economy of this country," Ballard says.
Team applications are being accepted through Feb. 7.
"Submissions will be evaluated by a team of professionals," Ballard says. "We'll select 12 to 15 teams to fully flesh out their business plans and then to come to Oak Ridge National Laboratory to present their business plan."
Ballard says business students can benefit in the future from learning through the Global Venture Challenge process.
"We want the students to understand that this is not just a competition, but it's about how in real life they would develop business plans and present them to venture capitalists because we will have venture capitalists here," Ballard says.
ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy.