teams

  1. 12 teams will be selected to pitch for the CS NEST competition.

  2. Teams are required to present for 3-5 minutes and be ready for an additional 3-5 minutes of questions.

  3. Teams may comprise any number of people, including a one-person "team." 

  4. At least one team member must be registered as a UW-Madison student during the spring semester (graduates or undergraduates) or who were registered in past classes for either the last Fall or Spring semesters. Students who graduated during the previous years May semester and postdocs may participate.

  5. All team members must registered by the registration deadline and submit their pitch deck to as part of the application.

  6. All team members need to submit an application. One application form per team member.

  7. Teams outside the CS NEST program are highly encouraged to sign up for optional pitch practice before the competition. For teams in the CS NEST program, please setup a practice meeting the director or associate. 

  8. All team members registered must be virtually present during the contest day. Exceptions will be permitted on a case-by-case basis, and must be pre-approved by emailing the contest organizer and getting approved with a confirmation email.

  9. All teams must designate a "contact person" who will be the official representative for the team.

  10. Teams may submit a new application, or features added to an existing application. If a team is doing the latter, they must explicitly spell out in their presentation what changes they made so they can be judged only on those features.

  11. All team members share equally in the ownership of the project and the prize.


MILESTONE REQUIREMENTS

At the competition, teams must demo their technology applications and the software to the best of their abilities. Judges may ask to directly use the software.


PRIZES

1st place - $5,000

2nd place - $3,000

3rd place - $2,000

  1. Prizes will be distributed evenly among all team members. The contest administrators will not distribute winnings in another way. If a team wishes for some other distribution, it is up to the team to manage the money appropriately.

  2. All prize decisions are final and may not be appealed.

  3. Teams are responsible for paying any taxes that are potentially due on the prize money.


INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

  1. Teams must realize that what they present to the contest judges becomes public knowledge. Judges will not sign, nor may be asked to sign, any non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). Teams are expected to demonstrate the software and let the judges use the product, but do not have to disclose any secrets of how the software is written.

  2. The Demo Day and the Contest Day presentations are public. Please take that into account if you are presenting ideas that you may want to patent.

  3. By participating in the contest, teams permit the University of Wisconsin Department of Computer Sciences to list their project on the website, as well as logos for future promotion of the contest.

  4. If you choose to spin off a company based on your NEST project, you do NOT have to give equity away in your company to the NEST sponsors or the organizers. The prize money is yours to keep.

 

QUESTIONS?

Let’s chat! Sign up for office hours.