In search of the most innovative MBA student team in the world: More and more student competitions are a way to align university, industry, and government on important themes.   Singularity University is producing a lot of interesting project plans with the goal of creating projects that could change the world (http://singularityu.org/programs/graduate-studies-program/gsp-09/team-projects/) Winners of competitions may even go on to become entrepreneurs, and there are a number of programs that cities are starting to bring successful global entrepreneurs to their door, by providing them recognition for their achievements. For example, New York City and Fordham University have established a venture fellows program (http://www.nycventurefellows.org/).   Anu Basu, who is a professor of Entrepreneurship at San Jose State University (SJSU) in San Jose, CA USA, gave me some interesting pointers to local entrepreneurs, who have helped inspire some of her students to think about becoming entrepreneurs themselves:  (1) Blippy. with founder and CEO Ashvin Kumar, for social media sharing what you buy on your credit cards, and (2) Art.sy, with founder Carter Cleveland, with a focus on sharing/buying/promoting art online.    Tom Kalil, Deputy Director of Policy at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, wrote a nice blog piece on the broader topic of grand challenge competitions and public-private partnerships some time ago, when he joined the Obama Administration (http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Prices-as-Incentives-for-Public-Private-Partnerships/).    More recently, Asher Spittler, who is the Director of Corporate Sponsorship for the Innovation Challenge at Idea Crossing, sent me information about the Innovation Challenge, which is the world’s largest MBA competition, producing 50+ concept plans from top MBA students and representing 10,000+ hours of MBA labor (they have had over 1,140 MBA contestants). More information at:  http://www.ideacrossing.com/ (for those who like a video clip – I recommend: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLZt99Txmnk).