Below are activities that we encourage club members to get involved in. These are not official Club events, but Club Leadership can help coordinate or support teams that are interested where possible/appropriate. Get in touch with us (bcgradtechnologyclub@gmail.com) if you are interested.

02/24 FRI Applications Due for CHIDS Innovate 4 Healthcare Challenge

03/01 Summer@HIGHLAND 2012 Applications Due (See program details below)

03/29-30 3rd Annual Strategic Use of Information Technology (SUIT) Showdown Competition

04/29-05/03 APEX Biz-IT Global Case Challenge 2012

06/04-08/31 Summer@HIGHLAND 2012

Generalassemb.ly Summer Program

Google Online Marketing Challenge

02/24 FRI Applications Due for CHIDS Innovate 4 Healthcare Challenge

The Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland invites students nationwide to enter the Innovate 4 Healthcare Challenge and compete for a $20,000 first prize and a pair of $5,000 runner-up prizes. Teams of up to 5 students will design a plan to improve patient engagement with their health care providers using information technology.

Created by the Smith School’s Center for Health Information and Decision Systems (CHIDS) and co-sponsored by Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc., the “Innovate 4 Healthcare Challenge” will culminate in a final round of presentations at the Smith School’s campus in Washington D.C. in April, 2012.

Deadlines:
Teams register by February 24th
Submit a plan by March 6th
Innovate 4 Healthcare Challenge Informational Webinar is being held on:
Friday, February 3, 2012 from 5 – 6 p.m., EST.  RSVP at contact@innovate4healthcare.com.

For more information and to register, visit: www.innovate4healthcare.com

06/04-08/31 Summer@HIGHLAND 2012

Are you a student entrepreneur looking to take your startup to next level this summer?  If so, Summer@HIGHLAND is just what you need.

In its fifth year, Summer@HIGHLAND is an entrepreneurship program designed to provide university-affiliated startups with the environment and resources for taking their initiative/company to the next level. Past participants have included the founding teams of such companies as Wildfire, Gemvara, CloudFlare, Affine, Ksplice, Cogito Health, Imprint Energy and AdPop.

Selected teams will receive $15K and free workspace in our Kendall Square, Menlo Park office or Sand Hill Road office and the opportunity to work closely with the Highland team and an incredible network of founders, CEOs and other business experts. As an entrepreneurship program, it is designed for startups that may not be ready quite yet for an accelerator (or may never need one). It is also complementary to other such programs (e.g., teams can participate in both Y Combinator and Summer@HIGHLAND).

Summer@HIGHLAND is “founder friendly” – we do not request an equity stake in exchange for participating in the program and teams are under no obligation to Highland after the summer. Participants will have access to Highland professionals and an incredible founder network along with thought leaders in business, design, legal, product, talent and technology. Past speakers include founders and CEOs from Airbnb, Dropbox, HubSpot, Quattro Wireless, Starent Networks and SCVNGR. Serial entrepreneurs/founders Steve Blank, Desh Deshpande, Naval Ravikant and Bill Warner have also contributed their expertise, along with business & technology experts from Amazon, Google, IDEO, KAYAK, WilmerHale and others.

Full details plus the application are at www.hcp.com/summer. BTW, we have two application deadlines this year: Early (March 1, 2012) & Regular (April 5, 2012).

Thanks for your interest in Summer@HIGHLAND. We can’t wait to see what you’re working on!

Yours truly,

The Highland Team

03/29-30 3rd Annual Strategic Use of Information Technology (SUIT) Showdown Competition

The University of Arizona is inviting teams of graduate students from MS or MBA in IS/MIS/IT degree programs to participate in the 3rd  Annual Strategic Use of Information Technology (SUIT) Showdown, business case competition. This competition will be hosted by the Management Information Systems department in the Eller College of Business, University of Arizona.

The goal of this annual event, for graduate students enrolled in information systems programs, is to create a forum for students from different universities to interact with each other in a competitive environment that allows them to showcase their skills. Students will analyze a business case that involves the strategic use (i.e., acquisition, management, implementation, etc.) of information technology within a company. The case will emphasize the management aspects rather than the technical aspects of the field (i.e., teams will NOT be asked to provide detailed technical design specifications for a recommended information technology solution).

The first SUIT Showdown was held at College Station, Texas and the second was held in Bloomington, Indiana. More details can be found at http://cmis.tamu.edu/suitshowdown. Our hope is that the SUIT Showdown will become the premier event for students enrolled in graduate level information systems education.

Students who participate in the SUIT Showdown will Acquire valuable experience presenting their ideas and demonstrating their skills in a business-IT case competition, Expand their network by meeting competitors from other top universities, Meet experienced practitioners who will judge the competition and Enjoy a break away from the rigors of their course work.

The competition will be held in Tucson, Arizona on March 29th and 30th, 2012. All participating teams will be expected to pay a registration fee ($600 per team) and cover the travel expenses for their team/coach.

Expressions of interest should be sent to Sue Brown, suebrown@eller.arizona.edu, before February 10th, 2012. Final registration (including payment of fee) is due February 27th.

We look forward to seeing you at the SUIT Showdown!

04/29-05/03 APEX Biz-IT Global Case Challenge 2012

First envisioned by 3 Singapore Management University (SMU) students, APEX Biz-IT Global Case challenge is an annual undergraduate Business IT case competition hosted by SMU School of Information Systems. Today, it has established itself as a global and prestigious event over a short span of two years. It is definitely a golden opportunity for undergraduate students from leading universalities all over the world to propose the best solutions to case scenarios encompassing Information Systems solutions, corporate transformation imperatives, and business impacts.

The registration is opened starting from today for students to sign up as a team of three to participate in the upcoming APEX Biz-IT Global Case Challenge 2012. The competition will be held on 29th April 2012 – 3rd May 2012.

We have a set of programs planned, and faculty members from other top universities will be attending from all over the world. Attached is the University Relations package for the APEX Biz-IT Global Case Challenge 2012. Please indicate your interest in joining the competition by clicking the following link:tinyurl.com/apex-biz-it-2012-registration. If you have any enquiries with regards to procedures, regulations, matters pertaining to the competition or any other general enquiries, please contact us at apex@smu.edu.sg.

We wish you the best in planning your trip to Singapore.

Yours sincerely,
Tan Yao Guang
President, Steering Committee
APEX Biz-IT Global Case Challenge 2012
Singapore Management University
Website: http://apex.smu.edu.sg/
Email: apex@smu.edu.sg

Generalassemb.ly Summer Program

This summer, General Assemb.ly is doing an eight-week immersive program for college students on our New York City campus. Each morning, students will attend classes that provide an in-depth overview of topics in digital product innovation and entrepreneurship. Afternoons will be devoted to hands-on training at partnering startups such as Foursquare, TechStars, Adaptly, Amicus, ShowMe and more. At the end of the summer, students will have completed a portfolio of major contributions to some of New York’s most exciting startups. More info and applications here: https://generalassemb.ly/summer-program.

Professor Gallaugher writes:

Want to work for a startup & geek-up your skills at the same time? Join the General Assembly immersive program. The program is awesome & has gotten tremendous recent press (see: http://mashable.com/2012/01/17/general-assembly-video/). A VC partner who came by the office a few weeks back raved about GA. Check out the links below & follow up with BC alum Liz (cc’d) if you have questions. If you participate, let me know. LOVE the concept of this program – it’d be great to see Eagles in house! Best, Prof. G.

Google Online Marketing Challenge

Real money, real results, real experience!

The Google Online Marketing Challenge (GOMC) is an exciting opportunity for students to experience online marketing and creating online marketing campaigns using Google AdWords & Google+. As well, students and their professors can win great prizes. Over 50,000 students from almost 100 countries have participated in past years.

With a US$250 budget provided by Google, students develop an online advertising strategy for a real business or non-profit organization that has not used AdWords in the last six months. The global winners and their professor receive a trip to the Google Headquarters in Mountain View, California to meet with the AdWords team. Regional winners and their professor receive a trip to a regional Google office. Visit the Winners page to see the 2011 Challenge winners.

The competition is open to all students, regardless of major, with teams ranging in size from three to six. All students must register under a verified professor/instructor at a higher education institution. The key dates for the Challenge can be found on the About the Challenge page.