RMIT University has announced the finalists of the 2012 RMIT Business Plan Competition, with ideas ranging from green fuel to eco-friendly beer packaging, highlighting key start-up trends.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n RMIT, which has campuses in Melbourne and Vietnam, has chosen 10 finalists for the 2012 RMIT Business Plan Competition \u2013 the biggest program of its kind in Australia.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now in its 12th year, the competition is open to undergraduate, postgraduate and TAFE students across all RMIT campuses.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n More than 2,900 students have taken part since 2001, with many past competitors now running successful businesses in Australia and around the world.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This year\u2019s program will see five teams from Australia and five teams from Vietnam present their business concepts to a panel of judges at a pitching day next month. First prize is $25,000.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The 10 finalists were chosen from 112 entries, with runners-up and category winners awarded up to $75,000 in cash and in-kind prizes. The winners will be announced on October 11.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The finalists highlight three key start-up trends:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Businesses born out of a desire to protect the environment are nothing new, but green ideas dominated this year\u2019s list of finalists.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n CleanTech, based in Ho Chi Minh City, aims to bring green energy to Vietnam via a range of energy solutions, with a focus on a solar thermal water system as an energy-efficient alternative.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Keg King, meanwhile, offers a new, environmentally-friendly way of packaging beer. Their product enables more efficient, cheaper distribution for both microbreweries and home brewers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Finally, OXI Inc. intends to distribute a new, environmentally-friendly fuel substitute, which is made from available agricultural biomass such as rice straw, husk and coconut fibre.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n In Melbourne, the International School of Creative Learning wants to establish an independent school centred on the Islamic faith.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The school would be open to all Australians \u2013 Muslim and non-Muslim \u2013 and would offer \u201ca \u201ccomplete learning environment based on faith, excellence and collaboration\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In Ho Chi Minh City, Unistairs wants to introduce OpenClass \u2013 afterschool care and activities for primary school-aged students \u2013 a resource that is currently not available to support parents.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jasuva, which operates under the name Interact Avenue, helps companies build brand loyalty by rewarding customers for engaging with their advertisements.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Interact Avenue aims to introduce online advertising models into the offline advertising world.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/b><\/p>\n Meanwhile, Thompson & Worth <\/b>are the creators of premium leather handbags. Customers can look forward to \u201cunique, simple and elegant designs\u201d made in Australia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" RMIT University has announced the finalists of the 2012 RMIT Business Plan Competition, with ideas ranging from green fuel to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41451"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1. Tapping into the green game<\/h3>\n
2. Broadening the horizon for school students<\/h3>\n
3. Concentrating on the customer<\/h3>\n