The PESO Challenge is a business plan competition among technology ventures. As such, all business plan entries, at the very least, employ technology, technology application, or a technology product which contains a moderate degree of new knowledge and complexity and is reasonably different from existing technology in the target market.

The competition is run over several stages:

1. Online Registration of Teams Initially, team details are submitted through an online registration form found in the PESO website (Register > Participants). Team eligibility requirement are listed in Competition > Business Concept Screening Round

2. Business Concept Submission (all applicants) This is followed by the electronic submission of the Business Concept to the secretariat email address. The Business Concept is described in full below. These will be screened to determine the semi-finalists who proceed to the next stage, which will be heavy on training and mentoring. The three best Business Concepts will be recognized and awarded.

3. Business Plan Submission (semi-finalists) While writing their full-blown business plans, the semi-finalists attend the Participant Enrichment Series of Workshops and write the full-blown business plans, over a period of about 3 months. A thorough evaluation of the written business plans will identify the ten finalists.

4. Revised Business Plan Submissions and Oral Presentations (finalists) The finalists will undergo the Finalists' Enhancement Session and receive additional mentoring as they revise their business plans and prepare for oral presentations. During the finals, the finalists make a 20-minute oral presentation before a panel of judges who have the opportunity to grill the finalists over a 15-minute Q&A period.

5. Awards Four teams with the best, 2nd best, 3rd best and 4th best business plans will receive cash awards as major winners. Honorable mention awards will also recognize those teams with the best technology, best presentation and best elevator pitch. During the awarding ceremonies, all finalists will be asked to deliver their elevator pitches.

6. Post-Competition Support After the awards, the work starts with PESO assisting the teams in incubating their business plans to further develop proof of concept and pilot tests that will support enhanced business plans prepared for presentation to funders, investors, partners.