ELIGIBILITY

All Rhode Island high school students in grades 9-12 from public, private, charter and homeschooling groups are eligible to compete. The student must be a Rhode Island resident. The competition is for student-created business ventures. In other words, students must:

  • Have played a major role in conceiving the proposed venture

  • Have a key management role in the proposed venture

RECEIVING THE SCHOLARSHIP

Each Lt. Governor’s Entrepreneurship Challenge recipient will be notified by the Lt. Governor’s Office that he or she will be awarded a post-secondary education scholarship. The scholarship is for Rhode Island students to be used at post-secondary institutions including public, private and trade schools.

Funds will be reimbursed directly to the student after the Lt. Governor’s Office receives confirmation (a copy of the student’s official transcript) from a post-secondary institution that the student has completed his or her first semester.

CONFIDENTIALITY & INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Students will retain all rights to the business plan regarding its use at all times, except as stated below. Due to the nature of the competition, judges, reviewers, staff, and anyone in the audience will not be asked to sign non-disclosure agreements with any participant. It is recommended that the individual who originated an idea obtains protection on any intellectual property, especially before disclosing or submitting any plan in the competition.

All portions of the competition are open to the public and the media. These public sessions may be recorded and broadcast to the public and specific persons or groups through various media, which may include radio, television, and the Internet. Any data or information discussed or divulged in public sessions by entrants should be considered information that will likely enter the public realm, and entrants should not assume any right of confidentiality for any data or information discussed, divulged, or presented in these sessions.

The Lt. Governor’s Office and Millennial RI may make printed copies, photocopies, photographs, video and/or audio recordings of the presentations, including the entries and other documents or material prepared for use in presentations. Students retain all proprietary rights.