A March 22 state economic summit will feature a unique "earn and learn" session as attendees get to see entrepreneurs make a pitch for funding from a panel of angel investors.

The winner gets $100,000.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for any business to submit a very short, brief executive summary of the business to be considered, receive assistance if they're selected on presenting to the angel group, and to come prepared to do that live in front of an audience," T. Craig Bott, president and chief executive officer of Grow Utah Ventures, said Thursday at a news conference announcing the summit and funding competition.

"Those attending will be able to witness what goes on generally behind closed doors as independent investors make decisions about which business to fund and what not to fund, what they like, what they don't like."

The Governor's Utah Economic Summit '07 will be at the Grand America Hotel.

Business plans may be submitted for free at FundingUniverse's Web site, www.fundinguniverse.com, by clicking on the "Funding Competition" icon. The deadline is March 6. The company will review the plans, select finalists and help them prepare their funding pitch to the angel investors.

The summit will be from 8 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. and will feature a keynote address by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and five educational tracks, each with multiple topics. They include business innovation, law, entrepreneurship, economic development, transportation, energy, real estate and the political process.

"Almost every industry will be covered by some topic at this particular event," said Jason Perry, executive director of the Governor's Office of Economic Development. Attendees may register online at utaheconomicsummit.com.

Brent Low, president of MediaOne of Utah, formerly the Newspaper Agency Corp., said economic summits in the northern and southern parts of the state have been both popular and "a great experience," helping attendees develop or change strategies to help them compete.

"It's about time Salt Lake had one of these events, and what better place to hold the Utah economic summit?" he said. "(It's) a time for all businesspeople in Utah to take a moment to reflect, get a better understanding of what's going on in the economy and go back and improve their businesses. That, from my perspective, is what this is all about."

Bott said the ultimate goal of the funding competition is to develop more entrepreneurs and more angel investors in the state.

"In Utah, we have just a huge talent base of entrepreneurs, and we have some wonderful financial resources for them at later stages," he said. "But through the governor's leadership and GOED's leadership and some private sector involvement and groups like ours, (we're) trying to focus more funding on early-stage businesses when $100,000 means a lot."

"We in the state of Utah have many great entrepreneurs, many great ideas," Perry said, "and all of them need funding."

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