The past week provided a nice glimpse into the entrepreneurial activities happening at UC Davis. On Wednesday, May 21st, the BigBang! Finals took place. This is a business plan competition hosted and run by the students of the Graduate School of Management at UC Davis. Five teams competed in the finals (four of which participated in the business development programs of the Center for Entrepreneurship, but who’s counting…).  For more, here’s the press release: High-tech Wine Cap Design Wins $15,000 and a description of the winners.

In its 8th year now, the BigBang! competition has grown every year and is now acquitting itself quite nicely. The winning business got an automatic berth in the the DFJ West Coast Venture Challenge, which brings together the winners of the west coast’s 8 largest business plan competitions. In addition, two other UC Davis teams captured 2 of the remaining 4 wild card spots in the Challenge.

UC Davis, just leeward of entrepreneurial hubbub of the Silicon Valley, is finding itself in a very interesting position. Having quietly risen in the past decade to become one of the nation’s preeminent research universities (as measured by awarded research grants), it has remained relatively untapped for entrepreneurs and investors alike. That’s changing.