Best Barrier Buster Award:
The award recognizes a Product Center customer for reducing or eliminating barriers to entrepreneurial success at the local, regional, or state level. These barriers may exist anywhere in the venture development system, and include (but are not limited to) issues of policy, regulation, technology, marketing, finance, public awareness, labor, distribution, and more.
Best Innovative Business Idea Award:
This award is presented to the Product Center customer that best demonstrates innovation in terms of a unique product or service that has the potential to fill a gap which no product, market or service currently fills. It may consist of entirely new things or it could be a new way to do old things.
Product Center Start-Up to Watch Award:
This award recognizes an emerging and/or established Product Center customer who has demonstrated excellence, innovation and growth in the past five years. The business has shown consistent success and growth in entrepreneurial and business development, established a strong business culture, and exhibited a reputation for integrity and proven involvement in the local and regional business community.
Product Center Entrepreneur of the Year Award:
This award recognizes a MSU Product Center customer that achieved unique accomplishments and performances in the past five years. This customer just might be an enthusiastic entrepreneur who is very coachable, a pleasure to work with, has a "can do" attitude, and is full of new ideas but has not as yet achieved her/his goals. This singles out a client to watch as she/he climbs the ladder toward entrepreneurial success.
Counselor/Educator of the Year Award:
This award recognizes the MSU Product Center Innovation Counselor and/or Educator who has demonstrated exceptional skills in connecting firms and entrepreneurs with assistance and access to numerous resources at the Product Center and throughout MSU.
Partner of the Year Award:
This award recognizes an industry partner of the MSU Product Center whose interest, commitment, and support has been invaluable to the Product Center's ability to delivery venture development assistance, entrepreneurial education, and market research for the food, agriculture, natural resources, and bioeconomy sectors of Michigan. |