Elite student teams from around the world will gather in Blacksburg, Virginia, USA to celebrate global entrepreneurship and to compete for the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Challenge Trophy. The objectives of the challenge are to celebrate the energy and creativity of university students, recognize their important contributions to the global economy, and encourage them to develop their entrepreneurial ideas.  The Challenge provides a unique opportunity for students to initiate their personal global networks through learning, socialization, and friendly competition. 

View event highlights from our 2012 Global Partnership Week and Student Challenge!

Thanks to our generous sponsors participating students will incur no food or lodging expenses during their week-long stay in Virginia.  Students or their sponsors are responsible for transportation to and from their home countries to the Roanoke Regional Airport, and a minimal event registration fee.

Learn more about the Rules and Guidelines, Team Registration, and Student Track Agenda.

The Prizes

First Place -$25,000*
Second Place - $5,000*
Best of the Rest - $5,000*

* Please note tax will be withheld from the prize payment. The standard withholding rate is 30%.

Students will compete for a $25,000 grand prize and VT KnowledgeWorks Global Challenge Trophy, which their team name will be engraved on the Global Challenge Trophy, residing at VT KnowledgeWorks as a permanent tribute to their outstanding effort.  

The team awarded second place will receive $5,000.  All participants will take home priceless memories and a personal global network of student friends.

“Best of the Rest” - $5,000, as chosen by the attendees.
The “Best of the Rest” award will be selected by vote of the event attendees.  VT KnowledgeWorks would like all contestants and audience members of the Global Student Business Concept Challenge (Thursday, August 22, 2013) to participate in honoring the most outstanding teams, based on the judging criteria.  The formal judging panel uses these same criteria to determine the first and second place teams that receive the $25,000 and $5,000 awards, respectively.  The team/concept with the highest overall ranking by the attendees, and which is not selected by the judging panel for either the First or Second Place award, will earn the $5,000 “Best of the Rest” prize.
 

Finalists of the 2012 Global Student Challenge

Top honors for the 2012 Global Student Challenge went to Mayank Kalra and Annelies Tjebbes of Team VersiCool, representing the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.  Their portable medical device induces controlled hypothermia in cardiac arrest patients, significantly reducing risk of death and other side effects.

Two runner-up teams, VIBEAT (displayed on left), representing the Vienna University of Technology and CARmunity (displayed on right) representing the University of Technology Sydney, each received $5,000.