Seeking worldwide students to demonstrate innovative technologies in the Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition

INNOVATIONS BEYOND BOUNDARIES

Reimagine a Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Future

The Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition (LKYGBPC) is a biennial university startup challenge in Singapore which is organised by the Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IIE) at Singapore Management University. ​

​The LKYGBPC derives its name from Singapore’s founding Prime Minister, who developed the country’s defining business plan bringing Singapore onto the global stage. It is this spirit of entrepreneurship, innovation and ambition that the competition enshrines.​

Rules and Regulations

These rules and regulations apply to all applicants of the Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition (LKYGBPC) and to applicants who are successfully accepted into the LKYGBPC. By making an application to join the LKYGBPC, you/your team hereby agree to be bound by these rules and regulations.

Any dispute as to the interpretation of these rules and regulations shall in the first instance be resolved by mutual good faith discussions between the applicant(s) and the head of Singapore Management University’s (SMU) Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. If the dispute is not resolved with 60 days from the date the dispute was made known to the Director of SMU’s Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the dispute shall be referred to the Senior Vice President, Administration for final adjudication.

Notwithstanding anything else in this Agreement, in no event shall SMU be liable any other person or entity with respect to any subject matter relating to the LKYGBPC, under any equity, common law, tort, contract, estoppel, negligence, strict liability or other theory, for any (a) incidental, special, punitive, consequential or indirect damages or (b) damages resulting from loss of sale, business, profits, data, opportunity or goodwill, even if SMU has been advised of the possibility of any of the foregoing damages.

For the avoidance of doubt, withdrawing your consent to Singapore Management University collecting and disclosing your data will mean withdrawal from the competition. In the event of your withdrawal, Singapore Management University reserves the right to seek reimbursement for all material benefits accrued to you as a result of your participation in the competition (including, but not limited to, prizes, grants, subsidized flights and accommodation).

If any discrepancies between the English version and the Chinese version is found, the English version will prevail.

Registration and Participation

To take part in the competition, we must receive your completed registration by 31 March 2023 2359hrs SGT. To register, the Participant must first have created a user account on the competition website, and must have truthfully and accurately completed required information, such as full name, email address, etc.

Any registration based on inaccurate, false or incomplete information will result in the Participant’s disqualification. Refusing collection, recording and use of their personal data that is strictly necessary to performing the competition will result in the Participant’s disqualification. The Participant is solely responsible for the information he/she provides when registering.Any intentional or unintentional mistake, anomaly or inconsistency, regarding this information, may result in the Participant’s disqualification. SMU reserves the right to proceed with all necessary verifications regarding the Participant’s identity, postal and/or email address.

Any registration based on inaccurate, false or incomplete information will result in the Participant’s disqualification. The Participant shall provide accurate information when registering. SMU reserves the right to proceed with all necessary verifications regarding the Participant’s identity, postal and/or email address.

Deletion of a Participant’s user account on the competition website will be deemed as a withdrawal from the competition. In this case, the Participant, regardless of whether the deletion results from the Participant’s personal action or not, will not participate in the competition and will not obtain any compensation.

You must also have accepted the Rules as well as the Personal Data Protection Statement, during the creation of your user account and your registration to the competition.

Registration for and participation in the competition is free, with no purchase or payment obligation.

Team Eligibility

Teams must meet all the following eligibility requirements in order to be selected to compete:

Category and Composition

Category 0 to 1: Pre-revenue teams/startups with novel technology or business model innovations

• Technology innovations that have emerged from academic research with commercialisation opportunities that may or may not be fully validated
• Innovative business models that may or may not be fully validated
• Team is in initial phases of ideation up to having a minimum viable product (MVP) that has yet to be launched in the market
• Each team / startup must have at least founding member / founder, who is a current student or recent alumni of less than 5 years. “Current student” is defined as any person who is enrolled in a full-time polytechnic, undergraduate, postgraduate, or PhD programme at a tertiary institute. “Recent alumni” is defined as any person who graduated or left school / took a sabbatical after 1 January 2019. There is no restriction on the number of members in a team or company

Category 1 to Infinity: Revenue-generating early stage start-ups, up to Series A

• Startup is in phases of initial sales or looking to scale
• Typically, product or service has launched in the market, and is seeking their next customer(s) and/or to enter a new market
• Each team / startup must have at least founding member / founder, who is a current student or recent alumni of less than 5 years. “Current student” is defined as any person who is enrolled in a full-time polytechnic, undergraduate, postgraduate, or PhD programme at a tertiary institute. “Recent alumni” is defined as any person who graduated or left school / took a sabbatical after 1 January 2019.
• There is no restriction on the number of members in a team or company

Size

• There is no restriction on the number of members in a team or company
• Each individual member may be a part of only 1 team. In the event that members are part of more than 1 team, all such teams will be disqualified.

Nature of the start up

• The competition is for new, independent start-ups in the pre-seed, seed or early growth stages.
• Buy-outs of existing businesses, expansions of existing companies, franchises, licensing agreements for distribution in a different geographical area, and spin-offs from existing corporations are not eligible for the competition.

Competition Rounds

Preliminary

Entries will be evaluated online by an international panel of judges and the Elite 150 will be selected to proceed into the next round.

Finals

From Elite 150, the top revolutionary teams, whom we called RVLT (revolutionary) 50 will present a 7-min pitch and 10-min Q&A session with a panel of judges during the finals week - BLAZE.

Each team will be given a total of 17 minutes (including time for Q&A from the judges)

• 7 minutes Presentation
• 10 minutes Q&A

Grand Finals

The top teams from each category will be selected to participate in the LKYGBPC Grand Finals on 15 September 2023. The top teams from each category will make their ‘live’ pitch for the top prize virtually in front of a panel of Grand Final Judges and registered guests.

Each team will be given a total of 20 minutes (including time for Q&A from the judges)

• 10 minutes Presentation
• 10 minutes Q&A

Please refer to the competition FAQs for more information.

Key Dates

Teams will be evaluated based on the following:

*Two members from the RVLT 50 will be eligible for sponsored airfare and accommodation trip to Singapore. Out of the two members, one member must be the main applicant. Please refer to the FAQs for elaboration on Elite 150 and RVLT 50.

Judging Criteria

Teams will be evaluated based on the following:

• Innovativeness
• Commercial Feasibility
• Impact of Idea
• Capability to Execute

Submission Requirement

The following materials will be required for your application during the Preliminary Round. Failure to submit the materials online by the announced deadline will result in disqualification.

• Executive Summary
  • Not more than 500 words, in pdf
  • File should be named in this format: Summary_TeamName.pdf
• Pitch Deck Presentation
  • Not more than 20 slides, in pdf
  • File should be named in this format: Presentation_TeamName.pdf
• Video presentation (Optional)
  • This is encouraged but not required.
  • Video should be no longer than 5 minutes with preference for mp4.
  • File should be named in this format: Video_TeamName.mp4
• All submitted materials must be the original work of the participating team.
• Each team is eligible to submit one idea. In the event of multiple submissions by a team, the last submission made by the team by the deadline will be considered for evaluation.
• All submitted executive summary and pitch deck presentation can only be in English or Chinese.
• All timings indicated are in the Singapore time zone (+0800 GMT).

Non-Confidentiality

• All sessions of the competition, including but not limited to the live pitches, questions and answers, video pitches and written business plans, are accessible to the public at large.
• SMU reserves the right to broadcast, publicize, publish and propagate any and all information to interested persons through media including but not limited to radio, television, applications and the internet.
• Due to the nature of the competition, we are not able to ask judges, reviewers, staff, or the audience to agree to or sign non-disclosure statements. SMU cannot guarantee that other individuals will not obtain access to electronic or hard copies of the business plan.
• All presentations are open to the general public, and some presentations may be videotaped. Attendance by media personnel is expected.
• Participants are precluded from assuming any right of confidentiality in any data, information discussed, divulged or presented in any manner in any session related to The Competition. Any information discussed or divulged in these sessions should be deemed by the participants as information that could possibly enter the public sphere.

Copyrights & Permissions

• If a team uses copyrighted materials and/or images from a third-party in their submissions or presentations, they must obtain permission and authorization in advance from the owners to use this material.
• SMU does not assume any liability arising from any infringements of any intellectual property by the participants.
• SMU and any of its affiliates has not taken, and does not intend to take, any steps to verify the adequacy, accuracy or completeness of any information, materials or statements presented by any participating team.
• Every participating team is fully responsible for ensuring its own compliance with all applicable country laws and it is solely the participating team’s responsibility to comply with any and all laws that are applicable in that jurisdiction.
• SMU does not give investment advice, endorsement, analysis or recommendations with respect to any securities and is not a broker, venture fund or an investment advisor.

Changes to Competition Rules

• While not anticipated, these rules and prizes are subject to changes at the discretion of SMU at any time. SMU shall have the right to interpret these rules according to its own judgment.

Prizes

• In order to win any prizes, teams must fully participate in LKYGBPC Finals: BLAZE from 11 September 2023 – 15 September 2023. Failure to participate in any event during the competition may result in forfeiture of all prizes.
• These prizes are subject to change at the partners or SMU’s discretion at any time.
• Some prizes may contain certain restrictions, conditions, or eligibility criteria.

Decisions regarding the Competition and the Winners

• All decisions made by the judges for the respective rounds of competition are deemed final and are not subject to appeals.
• All decisions regarding the competition rules, procedures, and processes are at the sole discretion of SMU. Changes and/or interpretations of these rules may be made by SMU at any time, even though they may be (or may appear to be) in conflict with any previously published information.
• The selection of the teams to compete and the decision of the winners are at the sole discretion of the judges and SMU. Best efforts will be made to make decisions in accordance with the official Rules and Regulations.
• SMU reserves the right to disqualify any teams who violate the rules, regulations or spirit of the competition.

Limitation of Liability

SMU will in no way be held liable in the event of breakdown or failure, regardless of the cause, of any telecommunications network used that causes Participants difficulty in or prevents Participants from identifying themselves on or gaining access to the Challenge website.

Participants agree that SMU, its affiliates and all of their respective officers, directors, employees, contractors, representatives and agents (“released parties”) will have no liability whatsoever for, and will be released and held harmless by participants for any claims, liabilities, or causes of action of any kind or nature for any injury, loss or damages of any kind including direct, indirect, incidental, consequential or punitive damages to persons, including without limitation disability or death. Without limiting the foregoing, everything on the challenge website and in connection with the challenge is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. Some jurisdiction may not allow the limitations or exclusion of liability for incidental or consequential damages or exclusion of implied warranties, in which case such limitation or exclusion shall apply only to the extent permitted by the law in the relevant jurisdiction.

Participation in the Challenge implies acknowledgement and acceptance of the characteristics, limits and risks of the internet and related technologies, particularly with regards to performance, response time, security of software and computer equipment against various potential attacks, such as viruses, logic bombs or Trojans, and loss or misuse of data. As a result, SMU will not be held liable in any way for any damage incurred by Participants arising from these characteristics, limits and risks, which Participants accept by registering and taking part in the Challenge.

SMU will not in any case be held liable for damages resulting from faults with or delays in the submission of deliverables by Participants, including refusal to accept these deliverables as a consequence of their submission outside the deadlines set out in the Rules, from faults with or delays to the sending of any emails by the Participant sent as part of the Challenge, or from any alterations made to the deliverables independently of SMU.

SMU will not in any case be held liable for damages resulting from services provided by a third-party relating to the prizes.

SMU will not be held liable for the consequences of a Participant’s disqualification from the Challenge as a result of their violation of these Rules.

Personal Data Protection

Participation in the Challenge requires the communication of the Participant's personal data.

By submitting the Application Form, you hereby agree to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal data by SMU for your application to the LKYGBPC (“Purpose”). Your personal data will be used for the Purpose, including where necessary or applicable, the disclosure of your personal data to partners or to affiliates of SMU, as the case may be for the Purpose. In this regard, you confirm that the personal data you have provided is complete and accurate.

SMU respects the privacy of individuals and recognizes the importance of the personal data you have entrusted with us and believe that it is our responsibility to properly manage, protect, process, use and disclose your personal data. We will collect, use, disclose and protect your personal data in accordance with Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act 2012 (“PDPA”), the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) or the United Kingdom’s Data Protection Act (“DPA”), as the case may be. If you are located in Singapore, please click here to find out about your rights under the PDPA. However, if you are located in one of the countries in the European Union or European Economic Area, or in the United Kingdom, please click here to find out about your rights under the GDPR or DPA, as the case may be.

You may withdraw your consent for the collection, use and disclosure of your personal data for the Purpose, at any point in time, by sending your request to iie@smu.edu.sg. However, please note that this may affect our administration of the Purpose to you. Your withdrawal will be effective within thirty (30) days of such request.

Applicable Law and Disputes Resolution

The Challenge and any action related thereto shall be governed by the law applicable in Singapore.

In case of persistent litigation beyond a period of fifteen (15) days after the Participant has filed a claim, SMU and the Participant undertake to submit their dispute to an amicable conciliation prior to any legal proceedings. The party wishing to initiate conciliation shall inform the other party by means of a registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt in which it will inform of its intentions and will explain the cause. If no agreement is reached between the parties within thirty (30) days after receipt of the registered letter, the parties regain their freedom of action.

In case of persistent disagreement on the application or interpretation of the Rules, and in the absence of an amicable settlement, any dispute that may arise between the parties, will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Singapore court to which the parties expressly grant jurisdiction, even in the case of multiple defendants, in summary, proceedings, appeal by guarantee or by motion, or any other jurisdiction.