14 teams are participating in the second annual Innovation Competition at Dickinson (IC@D), which entered into its second round of evaluations on Monday, Feb. 29.

According to the Dickinson website, the Innovation Competition “offers a competitive platform for entrepreneurial students to pursue an idea they are passionate about.” The competition contains three rounds, during which groups present their business plan canvases for innovative goods, services or processes.

This year, 19 teams with 39 students registered for the first round of the competition. Each team consists of three to five students with different majors across humanities, social sciences and sciences. Two teams were disqualified prior to the first round for not meeting the interdisciplinary rule, which states that each team must represent at least two of these three college divisions.

As of the midnight deadline, 14 of the 16 teams submitted an entry for round one, which Mary Ann Leidigh, academic department coordinator for International Studies and International Business and Management, considered “a great start to the competition.”

In the first round, participants submitted templates of their basic ideas to the panel of judges for evaluation. In the second round, groups outline their financial plans for their projects. In the third round, three teams will be selected to pitch their ideas in the final competition.

The judges are Associate Professor of International Business and Management David Sarcone, Assistant Professor of Economics Anthony Underwood, Adjunct Faculty in International Business and Management Sherry Ritchey and business professional Kevin McCallister ’88.

The first IC@D was initiated two years ago by Edward Finocchiaro ’15, Alex Torelli ’16 and Philip Velez ’15 with guidance from Associate Professor of International Business and Management Michael Fratantuono and Associate Professor of International Business and Management Helen Takacs. Originally, Fratantuono and Finocchiaro envisioned the IC@D to be like the ABC series Shark Tank, where entrepreneurs present business plans to industry professionals.

“What is exciting to the students is that this competition gives them an actual framework,” said Leidigh. “It moves the student to think through the logistics… how to move from the ideas to the final products.”

Zijie Zhang ’17, one of the student leaders of the IC@D, said the competition was brought to Dickinson so that “the students [can] get connected to the society and the world…we hope the students will receive benefits from their teammates and competitors through communications.”

The values of this year’s final awards have increased from last year. This year’s prizes from first to third place are $4000, $2000 and $1000, up from last year’s prizes of $2000, $1000 and $500 respectively. All the prize money is being provided by the family of Catherine White ’78 and Richard White ’75.

Students also have the opportunity to receive guidance from business professionals in various workshops and panels. These professionals, who are alumni or parents of students, are currently working in the fields of marketing, consulting, start-ups and banking.

Participants receive resources from the Idea Fund and Student Investment Group. The IC@D also partners with Skild, the online platform provider for the contestants and judges to access information for the competition.

The number of teams advancing to the second round of the competition will not be known until the judges have had time to evaluate each entry. The evaluations will begin March 1 and conclude at the end of March 7. Teams advancing to the second round will be announced March 8, the same day the second round of the competition begins. The third round will begin April 16 and the final competition is on May 5.