The Commons SportsZone was packed last month as finalists in UMBC’s 3rd annual Idea Competition — a bi-annual contest of entrepreneurial prowess — made their presentations to a panel of alumni judges and a standing room-only crowd of over 100 members of the UMBC community.

Forty ideas were originally submitted by students, with the top 10 selected for the final round. Winners were chosen by a combination of scores from the voting audience and the judging panel, consisting of three entrepreneurial alums: Greg Cangialosi ’96, English, CEO of Nucleus Ventures, LLC; Delali Dzirasa ’04, computer engineering, President of Fearless Solutions, LLC; and Jeehye Yun ’97, computer science, CEO and President of Secured Sciences Group.

UMBC alumnus and judge Greg Cangialosi was inspired by the innovative ideas from the students. He says, “It is truly inspiring to come back to UMBC as an entrepreneur and to see the amount of energy and the quality of the ideas coming out of the students on campus. The advancements in promoting entrepreneurship at UMBC have been incredible.”

Read more about the competition winners here.

All the winners won cash prizes: 1st place $750, 2nd place $500, 3rd place $250 and Most Creative $250. The Idea Competition was sponsored by the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship and was part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, a week where universities around the world celebrate entrepreneurship with activities and events for their students, faculty and alumni.