The Ohio Northern University Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization (CEO) team captured second place at the fourth annual Innovation Encounter competition at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Mich., on Oct. 18-19.

 ONU finished second among seven other schools at the event. In addition to ONU, the schools that competed were Lawrence Tech, Gonzaga University, Widener University, St. Louis University, Villanova University, Kettering University, and the University of Evansville.

The Innovation Encounter competition presented a business problem to student teams. They were charged with creating a solution and a business case for that solution in the two-day competition. The event connected entrepreneurial students from The Kern Entrepreneurship Education Network (KEEN) schools in both competition and celebration of entrepreneurship.

The competition was punctuated by social activities, educational components, networking with entrepreneurs, and obtaining valuable feedback on skills developed throughout the competition.

The ONU CEO team consisted of Nathan Brune, a junior civil engineering major from Decatur, Ind.; Jake Cooper; a sophomore management major from LaGrange, Ohio; Aaron Schnipke, a sophomore electrical engineering major from Fort Jennings, Ohio; and Brad Trentman, a junior marketing major from Fort Jennings, Ohio.

 CEO’s vision is to help students achieve their entrepreneurial dreams and goals. CEO provides student entrepreneurs with opportunities, events, activities and conferences to help start businesses, develop new products or simply explore what is means to work for an entrepreneurial organization.