Wichita State University’s Center for Entrepreneurship is launching a statewide competition to encourage Kansas college students to create new businesses — especially in rapid growth sectors such as technology and health care — to fuel the Kansas economy.

There will be a prize pool of more than $25,000 and an increased emphasis on students starting the businesses they create.

All Kansas college students are eligible to compete. The first deadline is Friday, Feb. 28.

See all the rules online. For more information, contact the WSU Center for Entrepreneurship at cfe@wichita.edu.

“Our founder, Dean Fran Jabara, believed that the ingenuity of entrepreneurs was the key to building a thriving Kansas," said Lou Heldman, interim director of the Center for Entrepreneurship. "We want to help energize economic growth in our city and state by getting college students deeply engaged in business innovation leading to startups.”

David Mitchell, certified public accountant, a founder and chief judge of the Shocker New Venture Competition, said: “The teams most likely to succeed will be those who show the best understanding of their potential customers and communicate most effectively about how they will finance and run their startup businesses.”

The judges will select eight teams to continue into the final round, held May 2 in Devlin Hall. Winners will be announced at 5 p.m. at a public reception and awards ceremony at Devlin Hall.

The competition begins at the end of February with the online filing of an Intent-to-Compete Form. Then teams submit a two-page summary in early March. Up to 32 teams will be selected to submit 10-page business plans at the end of March.

On April 25, there will be a Trade Show in the concourse of Charles Koch Arena on the WSU campus. Sixteen teams that reach that stage of the competition will present their new venture idea to more than 200 businesspeople serving as judges.

The Shocker New Venture Competition is the successor to the 7-year-old Shocker Business Plan Competition.