The Competition
The World’s Most Prestigious International Entrepreneurship Competition for High School Students
139 of the US News and World Report Top 250 STEM high schools in the US have participated in the competition.
Students from 5 continents and 146 countries have participated in this global competition.
The competition has grown exponentially from a state to international competition since it began 9 years ago.
The competition has exposed thousands of high school students to the real world of blue ocean entrepreneurship.
How it Started
The Blue Ocean Entrepreneurship Competition was founded in Maryland in 2014 by a young budding high school entrepreneur directly inspired by Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne’s Blue Ocean Strategy and the blue ocean way of thinking. It has since evolved from a countywide competition to the largest virtual high school entrepreneurship competition in the world. High school students came from all corners of the globe, from Ireland to Uganda, Italy, Egypt, Japan and Australia, representing the six continents making the competition truly global.
Nicholas Benevidas, a high school junior at Centennial High School, gets introduced to Blue Ocean Strategy by his father and sets out to organize the first county-wide high school blue ocean competition in Howard county, Maryland.
The competition goes state-wide across Maryland.
Schools from four North-Eastern states and Washington DC come together.
Goes virtual and gets nationwide participation.
501c3 non-profit is formed and the competition goes from student-run to professional-run.
Ted Dacko becomes the first Executive Director and takes the competition global.
Top Stem Schools
139 of the US News and World Report Top 250 STEM high schools in the US have participated in the competition
The competition is now the largest and most prestigious Global Virtual High School Entrepreneurship Competition in the world.
The 2023 competition saw record-breaking participation - 5200+ students from 146 countries and territories.
The World's Largest Virtual Entrepreneurship Competition for High School Students
Record-breaking 2023-2024 Blue Ocean Competition participation.
Participants
Countries and territories
Schools
US states
Past Competitions
More than 5,200 students took part in the 2022 competition. Check out the inspiring winning blue ocean pitches.
More than 2500 students took part in the 2022 competition. Check out the inspiring winning blue ocean pitches.
More than 2000 students took part in the 2022 competition. Check out the inspiring winning blue ocean pitches.
Past Competitions
More than 2500 students took part in the 2022 competition. Check out the inspiring winning blue ocean pitches.
More than 2000 students took part in the 2022 competition. Check out the inspiring winning blue ocean pitches.