Deadline:
February 19, 2025
Location(s)
Online
Overview
The Milken-Penn GSE Education Business Plan Competition (EBPC) is open to applicants worldwide addressing educational inequities through innovation. Finalists get targeted venture development support from a strategic advisor, opportunities for in-person networking with investors and potential customers.
If you’ve raised less than $2 million and have generated less than $2 million in gross revenue in the last 12 months, you’re eligible to apply. If you are selected as a semi-finalist, you must be ready to dedicate 4-6 hours per week to grow your venture through the Catapult virtual accelerator.
Considered the most prestigious and well-funded competition of its kind, the Milken-Penn GSE Education Business Plan Competition celebrates and nurtures purpose-driven ventures that seek to address inequities in education through innovation.
Details
Exclusively for Education Entrepreneurs
The competition celebrates and nurtures meaningful innovations in education, offering a full range of supports to elevate ideas to the next level and move research into practice.
Dynamic Ecosystem
By entering the EBPC, you join an education ecosystem of engaged investors, entrepreneurs, practitioners, and researchers all striving to address persistent and emerging problems in education.
Unrivaled Partners
The Milken family - several of whom are Penn graduates - embody the Franklin spirit and through successful educational entrepreneurship - from pre-K services through college education for working adults - as well as investments in education enterprises, have demonstrated a commitment to the leaders of tomorrow.
Penn GSE is one of the nation's premier research education schools, leading the way with unique partnerships with educators worldwide. The Ivy League's University of Pennsylvania is notably entrepreneurial, launching innovative degree programs for practicing professionals such as the first master's degree in Education Entrepreneurship.
Overview
The Milken-Penn GSE Education Business Plan Competition (EBPC) is open to applicants worldwide and offers a tremendous opportunity to entrepreneurs and investors alike. With a rich history of success, the EBPC has awarded over $1.4 million in cash prizes since 2010, and winners and finalists have gone on to raise more than $140 million in additional funding. Through its dynamic ecosystem, the EBPC celebrates meaningful innovations that address persistent and emerging problems in education.
RULES
Educational entrepreneurship business plans should outline the problem they address, offer a solution, and discuss scaling possibilities for bringing the proposed innovation to additional settings. Broadly construed, educational entrepreneurship initiatives can address a wide range of educational issues. This competition encourages applications in every conceivable educational setting – from early childhood through corporate/adult training, in settings and contexts anywhere in the world. We also welcome both nonprofit and for-profit submissions. In terms of focus, we invite submissions that address issues of curriculum, instruction, educator professional development, assessment and evaluation, collaborations, learning design, technological innovations, learning/school support tools, and more. In evaluating business plan submissions, our judges will consider the importance of the educational problem, the creativity and feasibility of the proposed solution, and the potential for widespread impact.
Opportunity is About
Eligibility
Candidates should be from:
Description of Ideal Candidate
Who should apply
We welcome education ventures with innovative solutions to educational inequity from around the world, especially those ventures founded by and serving individuals from marginalized and historically underrepresented communities. We encourage applicants working in every conceivable educational setting–from early childhood through corporate and adult training. We also welcome both nonprofit and for-profit submissions. Since 2010, areas of focus have included (but are not limited to):
- Urban Education
- Connecting Research to Practice
- Teaching & Learning
- Technology in Grades K through 12
- Special Education & At-Risk Students
- Open & Collaborative Solutions: The Education Ecosystem
- Online & Distance Learning in Higher Education
- Global/Borderless Education Solutions
- Early Childhood Education
- Workforce Learning
Dates
Deadline: February 19, 2025
Cost/funding for participants
Un-save Opportunity
Internships, scholarships, student conferences and competitions.
