Have an idea for a microbrewery in India? A flash-freezing venture in Peru? Or maybe a website that makes it easier to find student housing in Ann Arbor?

The University is offering cash to hear your ideas.

The Center for Entrepreneurship, a University program developed by the College of Engineering, recently launched “1,000 Pitches,” a contest for University students and faculty aimed at encouraging new entrepreneurial ideas.

Students and faculty can submit a 3-minute video to pitch ideas for new inventions, businesses or non-profit organizations on a variety of topics.

Engineering Prof. Thomas Zurbuchen, director for the Center for Entrepreneurship, said the contest will encourage students to apply what they learn in the classroom.

"I think it's important at the University of Michigan for our students to recognize that we're not just here to get an education — we're here and we're getting that education because we want to affect what surrounds us," he said.

There are seven submission categories: global business, social change, health, local business, green campus, high-tech and environmental and clean tech. The “green campus” category specifically asks for ideas to make campus more eco-friendly.

Students submit their videos through 1000pitches.com. The deadline for submission is Oct. 5, and the winners in each category will be awarded $1,000 in cash to implement their ideas.

MPowered, a student organization focusing on student entrepreneurship and one of the contest's sponsors, held a similar contest called "Big Ideas 2008" last winter. Submitted student video pitches included "Crepes as Healthy Fast Food," "Flash Freezing Investment in Peru" and "Micro Brewing in India."

No specific numbers were available on submissions so far, but Zurbuchen said he thinks involvement will be high. Many professors have turned contest submissions into homework assignments, immediately guaranteeing at least a few hundred participants.

Zurbuchen said the center wanted video submissions so the program could judge students' familiarity with technology and see the face behind the idea.

“We feel a lot of entrepreneurship is about people, not just about the idea itself," Zurbuchen said. “If you have a good idea, I’m as interested in who you are as I am in what your idea is.”

Though the Center for Entrepreneurship works mainly with the College of Engineering and the Ross School of Business, contest organizers hope students in other disciplines will enter.

“It is a challenge,” said Ashwin Lalendran, the president of MPowered, of getting more students involved, “but I think the flavor of 1,000 Pitches accommodates all.”

Engineering senior Andry Supian, who is the project director for MPowered, said it’s important to create incentives for students to innovate. Those incentives, he said, can create a passion to change the world that is currently lacking on campus.

“We want to eliminate the fear that engineering, business or technical knowledge is a prerequisite to entrepreneurship,” he said. “You just have to have the passion for change."

The University is also partnering this year with DTE Energy for the Clean Energy Prize entrepreneurship competition.

That contest, open to students at any college in the state, asks students to submit ideas directly relating to clean energy technology. The winning teams will share $100,000 in prize money. The official announcement of the Clean Energy Prize competition will take place at 3 p.m. today at Stamps Auditorium in the Walgreen Drama Center.

“The Clean Energy Prize is important for students because it facilitates collaboration between the technological and business disciplines,” John Austerberry, a DTE Energy spokesman, said in an e-mail interview. “We believe the competition will help reinvigorate a culture of entrepreneurship in Michigan and establish the state as center for new energy research and business."