Students from the Blackstone LaunchPad, Wayne State University's student entrepreneur program, and other colleges around the Metro Detroit area will showcase their business models and compete for $10,000 in cash prizes at Wayne State's Get Launched! event, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011, in the Student Center Ballroom, 5221 Gullen Mall, Detroit.

Josh Linkner, CEO and managing partner of Detroit Venture Partners, will be the keynote speaker. Linkner has been honored as the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and the Detroit News Michiganian of the Year. His book, "Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity," is a New York Times best-seller.

During the event, students will showcase their business models, which range from social media technology, video games, to retail and everything in between. The students with the most innovative business models will have the opportunity to pitch them before a panel of Detroit business leaders, "Shark Tank" style. Some members of the panel include Rishi Jaitly of the Knight Foundation, Slow's Bar-B-Q owner Phil Cooley, and Dan Izzo of BizdomU.  There also will be an "Idea Slam" segment where the audience is invited to participate where random teams are formed and given a task involving the city of Detroit. The winner is chosen by the audience during live tweeting and will be awarded visa gift cards.

Also on hand will be representatives from Wayne State University Law School's Small Business Clinic, UHY, Kiva Detroit, Detroit Venture Partners, Bizdom U, TechTown, MI Small Business & Technology Development Center and more.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit the website:  http://vuemi.com/getlaunched/.