The search is on for e-entrepreneur stars

A campaign to find Europe's top internet entrepreneurs took to the streets last week to prove that Americans don't have all the best ideas.

Backed by Swedish venture capital company e-chron, the pan-European competition, dubbed e-challenge, aims to identify, develop and launch the next generation of world-class internet companies.

Budding internet millionaires are invited to submit their business plans either online or by attending one of the e-challenge events. The deadline for entries is 29 February and the best internet companies will be offered venture capital and business development expertise.

The tour started in Munich on 26 January and moves around Europe, hitting London tomorrow (10 February). The competition is supported by companies including Ericsson, Hewlett-Packard, Ernst & Young, Lotus, CNN and research firm Yankee Group.

Niclas Carlsson, president of e-chron, said: "It's time to revolutionise the European internet industry. We want to find the entrepreneurs with the brightest minds and the strongest determination to develop tomorrow's world class companies."

"The idea behind e-challenge is to select the most promising internet companies in Europe, while creating and supporting a meeting place where the hottest internet entrepreneurs can interact with venture capitalists and professional service providers," he said.

One of the judges, Scott Smith, director of Yankee Group's European internet strategies research service, explained the need for such a competition: "It has taken the US market six years to reach critical mass in the internet economy. We expect Europe to take half that time, and the e-challenge competition is really a part of this acceleration process in Europe."

The first competition was held in Scandinavia last year and attracted more than 300 internet companies. The winner was ZoomON, the first company to offer web-aided design tools. ZoomON has increased in staff and market value ten-fold since submitting its business plan to e-challenge.

This year the organisers expect 1,500 entrants, with 150 business plans reaching the semi final. The 15 finalists will then present their business plans during a two-day conference to be held on 16-17 May.