There are just two weeks left to apply for the SemTechBiz Start-Up Competition. Entry is free, so hurry and get your submission in! The competition page states, “At the 2013 Semantic Technology & Business Conference, SemanticWeb.com and WebMediaBrands will award one company the prize as ‘Top Semantic Technology Start-Up.’ At 12:30 pm Monday, June 3rd, companies will have the opportunity to compete on stage as they deliver their pitches before a panel of expert judges! The companies competing will have met the following conditions: (1) Have a demonstrable product (at least in “beta” stage) in the SemTech and or SemWeb space. (2) Have received no more than a Series B round of financing. To apply, go to http://wmb.skyworld.com/semtechbizsf2013-su. Please note, that the application deadline is April 1.” Read more

Software developers have a new opportunity to test their abilities and help researchers in the process: “Elsevier is offering $35,000 in prizes and challenging software developers to help more than 15 million researchers, medical professionals, librarians and students navigate scientific content, improve scientific search and discovery, visualize sophisticated data in more insightful and attractive ways and stimulate collaboration.” Read more

Microsoft Research in partnership with Bing has announced the Speller Challenge. The challenge’s website asks, “Do you have what it takes to build the best speller? Enter the Speller Challenge by developing a speller that generates the most plausible spelling alternatives for a search query.” Entrants have the opportunity to “try out your speller using real world data; see how it compares to the rest of the community’s spellers; [and] be eligible to win a cash prize.” Read more