PORTLAND – Now in its fifth year, the University of Southern Maine Business Plan Competition has attracted participation from four universities and colleges, registering 21 student teams to compete for $25,000 in cash and services.

This year marks the first year student teams from the University of Maine at Farmington will enter in the competition, hosted by the Center for Entrepreneurship in USM’s School of Business in cooperation with USM Corporate Partners.

Designed to promote entrepreneurial spirit, the competition was opened statewide to students from Maine’s private and public universities and colleges last year. This year’s competition field will bring together 13 teams from USM, four from the University of Maine, three from the University of Maine at Farmington, and one from Southern Maine Community College.

During the competition, student teams create and develop an original business idea into a solid business plan in the hopes of winning $10,000 in cash and $15,000 in consulting services to start their business venture.

Students will submit their written plans by March 17 and the top five teams will make final plan presentations on April 12. The winning team will be announced then.

Fourteen teams will represent the fields of business, accounting and finance; while four teams will represent the fields of art, economics and sociology; and an additional three teams will represent engineering, computer science and applied science.

The four previous winners of the competition are moving their ideas to market, as are three additional teams that participated in the competition.