Fiches Dispositif

The "Entrepreneurship" competition accompanies the creation of new business activities in Lorraine. Its concept integrates the logical sequence of the creation pathway with validation at each step :
- design of a product or service ;
- emergence of the creation idea and validation of the project ;
- concrete expression of the project and drafting of a business plan ;
- start up and development of the business.
The "Entrepreneurship" competition includes one to four periods of 9 months over a maximum 4 years time period depending on the degree of maturity on the first participation and the speed of the project’s evolution (which corresponds to 4 participation possibilities with the same original project at more and more elaborate stages of advancement or evolution).
Joining the competition spirit, annual editions make it possible to highlight a “vintage” of candidates by a proclamation of laureates and the awarding of prizes. Each annual edition is designed in order to give sufficient details to the candidates for the correct maturation of their projects. It includes 4 strong moments :
- an application phase (October to December) in order to present his project for a first selection on the basis of eligibility criteria of the project and the candidates ;
- a development phase of an application (January to May) that is examined by the competition’s jury on the criteria of the quality of the approach followed, the coherence of the project, its realistic character, its potential and its perspectives of concrete expression ;
- the "Laureates of Entrepreneurship," ceremony that takes place each year in June and that makes it possible to distinguish and reward the best projects. An exhibition of the totality of the projects having participated in the final phase is held at this occasion;
- a project follow up phase (September to June of the following year) in order to allow candidates to launch their business, finalize their project or improve it in order to participate in the following edition.

Open to students, researchers and young graduates (less than 3 years) of the universities, engineering schools, technological and vocational high schools as well as people registered in the vocational or continued educational organizations of Lorraine. The candidates can participate alone or in teams and be assisted by teachers of people form the economic world.

2 types of projects are eligible :
- the projects of creation of a new business or development of a new activity in and existing business, oriented towards a creation of a new, economically viable (product or service) activity ;
- the projects carried out in the framework of schooling by students and in order to allow them to highlight their acquisitions and to develop their sense of responsibility, their creativity, their autonomy and their capacities of bearing a project.
No matter what type of project presented, its finalization must be planned in Lorraine.

€ 30 000 in prizes including a training prize worth € 800 are allocated each year and financed by the competition’s partners. The jury, composed of representative of the partners, selects the best project from each category and can decide to not award a prize or to modify the names, the number, the nature and the amounts of the prizes :
- product design : 6 grants of € 600.
- pedagogic projects : 6 grants of € 600.
- creation of emerging business : 8 grants of € 800.
- creation of concretely expressed business activity : 5 prizes € 1 600.
- business starting up : a first prize of € 5 000, a second prize of € 2600.
All participating in the final phase will receive, in addition, a one year follow up free of charge so as to make his project advance towards its concrete expression.
The projects are evaluated according to the following criteria :
- the quality of the approach followed, the work carried out or actions implemented ;
- the validation of advanced elements ;
- the realistic character of the project and its market potentials ;
- the coherence between the competences mobilized and the project ;
- the quality and the clarity of the participation file ;
- the perspectives of concrete expression or, for projects concretely expressed, indicators such as the turnover, jobs created and development perspectives.
Other criteria can also be taken into account such as the originality of the project, its interest for local economic development, sensitivity to the social, societal and environmental repercussions, or even the effort of searching for complementary competences…