Microsoft giving away 50K in cash with Collaboration Challenge

If you use SkyDrive and are working on a business plan challenge at a participating University, you could walk away with $5000 in your pocket if you tell your story to Microsoft.

Brad Sams Senior News Editor Neowin @bdsams · Jan 17, 2012 13:05 EST with 6 comments

Anyone who has taken a journey through business school has surely created one, if not dozens, of business plans. If you are currently attending an eligible University, Microsoft is willing to give you $5000 if your plan wins and you use SkyDrive to assist your team.

The competition is simple, you compete in your schools business challenge, participate in a Facebook group, then tell Microsoft in 200 words or less about how SkyDrive assisted your team. The entry information is posted below:

1.) Join the Collaboration Challenge group on Facebook for updates.

2.) Use SkyDrive to work together on your business plan. Here are a few tips.

3.) Win a university business plan competition, no later than June 1, 2012. 4.) Email us at [email protected], by June 15, 2012. Include a short write-up (<200 words) on how SkyDrive helped along with a screenshot of the version history of your business plan on SkyDrive.

5.) We’ll pick a winner from your school and let you know by June 30, 2012.

We must admit that the listing of schools is rather small as only 10 Universities are eligible for the competition. But, if you do attend one of those Universities, a $5000 prize for that school is guaranteed which increases your odds considerably if this competition was open to all students nationwide. The following 10 schools are included in the competition:

UC Berkeley

Columbia University

Harvard University

MIT

Northwestern University

Stanford University

University of Illinois

University of Michigan

University of Pennsylvania

University of Washington

Microsoft Office products have always been about productivity. With SkyDrive now becoming an integral part of the collaboration experience, incorporating the platform in to your team should not be much of an issue. If you can do so effectively and win your school's competition, Microsoft has some cash it would like to hand you for your story.