For nearly a quarter century, teams of ambitious graduate students from institutions around the United States and around the globe have come to Portland, Oregon, to compete in one of the world's most highly-regarded investment competitions: the University of Oregon's New Venture Championship.

Held April 3–5, this year's competition drew teams from Hong Kong, Thailand, and India, as well as from graduate schools around the United States.

For participants, simply gaining one of the competition's sixteen berths is a point of pride. This was especially true this competition, when applications were up nearly 25 percent from the previous year.

As in previous years, the roster of judges reads like a who's who of entrepreneurial leaders in Portland and beyond. From the semifinal rounds all the way through the finals, the judges provide concise, meaningful, and actionable feedback. Indeed, many past competitors have described the judges' comments as the most constructive they've yet received.

For the second year in a row, a team from Thailand's Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration of Chulalongkorn University won first place. This year's team—RediGen—presented Multifunctional Composite, a 100 percent recycled material composed primarily of used tires and plastic.

LymphaTech, a team from the Georgia Institute of Technology, took second place and also won the Palo Alto Software Best One-Page Pitch Award.

Catch up with the action on NVC's Twitter feed, download this year's program, and catch up with the achievements of previous NVC participants.