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$100,000 in Cash Awards Going to Best Tech-Based Business Ideas

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS:

• Intel is launching “Intel Innovators,” a Facebook platform that encourages young entrepreneurs to share groundbreaking business ideas, and the chance at up to $100,000 for the next 3 months.
• At a live webcast, Deborah Conrad, Intel’s chief marketing officer, will lead a discussion on the importance of technology, entrepreneurship and innovation.
• Intel believes that fostering innovation in today’s young entrepreneurs through programs such as Intel Innovators is imperative to driving future technology.

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Dec. 1, 2011 – Today Intel Corporation will debut Intel Innovators, a Facebook platform that encourages young entrepreneurs to share their business ideas for the chance to win up to $100,000 for the next 3 months. This program will be announced at noon (PST) during a live webcast titled “Young Entrepreneurs Inventing Tomorrow’s Innovation.”

Deborah Conrad, chief marketing officer at Intel, will lead this webcast discussion with additional industry leaders on the importance of technology, entrepreneurship and innovation. Conrad will be joined by David Fischer, Facebook vice president of advertising and global operations; Ricky Van Veen, CollegeHumor and Connected Ventures co-founder and CEO; and Phil Weilerstein, National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) executive director. In conjunction with this discussion, Intel will debut Intel Innovators.

Intel Innovators is a new social platform for 18- to 24-year-old entrepreneurs in the United States to share their business ideas or startup plans on Facebook, grow a fanbase, receive real-time feedback and have a chance to win startup capital from Intel. Each month, cash prizes will be awarded to participants with the best tech-based ideas from an expert panel of judges from Betaworks, SV Angel and Intel Capital. Together, the judges will award one $50,000 prize; the Intel Innovators Facebook fan that accumulates the most “social capital” will award another $50,000 to one of the five finalists. In addition, selected finalists will receive a state-of-the-art Intel®-inspired Ultrabook™, the Asus Zenbook UX31E, and an invitation to NCIIA’s VentureLab, a hands-on mentorship program designed to enhance the success of finalists’ new businesses.

“At Intel, we are on a constant quest to fuel innovation of all kinds. We never fail to be impressed by the power of the human imagination or the millions of people who are fueling the future with their amazing ideas,” Conrad said. “We are especially excited and motivated by this new generation of entrepreneurs. Through the new Intel Innovators program, we can show our commitment to these entrepreneurs by providing tools and resources to help them pursue their visions. We think we will see some very cool ideas."

Today, Intel Innovators invites all Facebook users to weigh in on the top 20 ideas submitted. Submissions for Intel Innovators opened on Nov. 1. In the first month hundreds of ideas were submitted, spanning diverse fields and topics including business-to-business solutions, medical research innovations, and revolutionary social networking site proposals, and this number is continuing to grow exponentially.

Intel Innovators is the latest in Intel’s entrepreneurship initiatives, which also include programs such as the Intel Global Challenge at UC Berkeley, a global business plan competition that encourages student entrepreneurs and rewards innovative ideas that have the potential to have a positive impact on society.