The previously student-centric affair also added new tracks for alumni and research commercialization, as well as contestants from new competition partner UT Southwestern Medical Center. “UT Dallas is doing more than $130 million of research now,” Nichols said. That’s why the Venture Development Center is open to alumni, and that’s one of the reasons why we expanded the competition. We’ve grown from being student-centric to encompassing the entire UT Dallas community. Even with this expansion, the students are still getting a strong platform and a great experience going through the Big Idea Competition.”The enhanced competition is part of a larger entrepreneurial ecosystem at UT Dallas managed by IIE.