It’s called the Super Bowl of business plan contests. The judges act as an investment group awarding venture capital and base their decision on which business venture they would most likely fund.

The Global Moot Corporation Competition at the University of Texas awards the winner $100,000, the most lucrative prize in university-based competitions. This year a juggernaut team from the Tepper School of Business was the winner. And for the first time in history, another team from the same school was runner-up.

The two MBA teams from Carnegie Mellon were EANeedle, which was crowned the Global Champion, and Clear Count Medical Solutions, the first runner-up.

Winning entry EANeedle is a new diagnostic medical device that uses ultrasound to guide biopsy needles into places previously impossible to reach. It could mean earlier detection, better care and less invasive procedures for cancer patients. The patented device promises to extend the minimally invasive techniques to millions of biopsy patients annually.

MBA student Josh Gerlick, undergraduate computer science major Yogesh Oka, and graduate mechanical engineering student Mark O’Leary formed the company after winning their first competition, held by the Pittsburgh Technology Council. Prize winnings from this competition were used to establish the corporation, pay initial legal fees and subsidize the cost of entering an international competition. The team was a semi-finalist in the Purdue University Life Sciences Business Plan Competition and in the MBA Jungle Business Plan Challenge in New York City.

Clear Count Medical Solutions, presented by Steven Fleck and Gautam Gandhi, is a patented device that uses radio frequency identification technology to track surgical sponges that might be inadvertently left in a patient during a surgical procedure. Current methods to avoid such problems cost U.S. hospitals $1 billion annually. The technology may revolutionize the process in operating rooms around the world.

Carnegie Mellon wins at business plan competitions across the country are validating the university’s reputation as a “pioneer in entrepreneurial education.” Gerlick, Oka and Tepper School of Business MBA students Patrick Hung, Leo Leung and Saveen Pakala, recently won Honeywell’s Aerospace Electronic Systems Growth Challenge Competition for their Autonomous Vehicle Efficiency Control (AVEC) platform. It is estimated that AVEC, a new concept aimed at improving aerodynamics and tire performance for the trucking industry, could create $18 billion worth of business. Although only four of 20 teams made it to the last round of the Honeywell competition, two of those teams were from the Tepper School.

Business School Undergrads Win Educational Outreach Competition

For the second consecutive year, students from the Tepper School of Business won the regional championship in the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) annual educational outreach competition to gain a berth in the organization’s national championship event. The students, who were also honored with the National Business Ethics Month Finalist Award, finished 13th out of nearly 1,500 teams at the national competition in Kansas City.

This year’s team consisted of three business administration students—senior Edward Liang and juniors Cindy Hsu and Jennifer Toda— and two junior information systems majors—Lily Feng and Victor Chu.

Carnegie Mellon SIFE President Cindy Hsu reports that students completed a total of 11 projects this year. Their activities included helping a Pittsburgh entrepreneur launch an e-commerce Web site to promote Pittsburgh’s fashion industry, teaching elementary school students about cultural diversity and the global economy, and organizing a campus game show about ethical decisions.

An international organization focused on changing the world through free enterprise, SIFE believes in the power of community service. The business competitions give students the opportunity to gain real-world entrepreneurial experience while having a positive impact on their communities.

For more on Carnegie Mellon’s SIFE Chapter, visit their web site..