S.C. Residents Vote for Your Favorite Wildcard New Business Idea

COLUMBIA, SC – October 4, 2009 – Residents of South Carolina choose your favorite new business idea in the Wild Card category for the New Ideas SC contest until October 15, 2009.

Any resident of South Carolina can vote for their favorite Wild Card idea at www.NewIdeasSC.com.

The winner of the Wild Card category will be announced at the Small Business Innovation Summit and Expo on November 4, 2009 and as a category winner will receive $2,500 (Runner-Up’s receive $1,000). All prize winners receive tickets to the Expo and a scholarship to the FastTrac®, entrepreneurial business training course of their choice. They will also be eligible for the Grand Prize of $5,000 to use as seed money for their business idea and a Dream Team of Mentors to help cultivate their idea.

Last year’s winner in the Wild Card category was Bryan Pierce Bowers, Jr., from Charleston County who proposed the idea of BikeBack, a small, weatherproof GPS technology to track and retrieve a bicycle if it is stolen. Runner-up Ron Fulbright from Spartanburg County submitted his Spockets idea which adds pockets to any item of clothing using a magnet backing. The Grand Prize Winner was Mike Switzer from Richland County with his idea for electrical outlets that are ‘hot’ only when the appliance is in use, therefore significantly reducing the energy costs for the homeowner.

More than 340 South Carolina residents from 28 counties entered their new business idea in the New Ideas SC Contest in one of the five categories: Bio-Science, Software/Information Technology, Engineering, Environmental Sustainability and Wild Card. Make someone’s business idea come true and vote for your favorite at www.NewIdeasSC.com and don’t forget – last day to vote is October 15, 2009.