Q. I've been circulating my business plan to colleagues, lawyers and potential investors. How do I make sure they don't steal my business idea?

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Purdue University has extended the deadline for entrants in its business plan competition that will award $134,000 in cash and business services for startup companies that describe the best path to market for products and technologies in the life sciences, biotechnology and biomedicine.

A craft brewery and a performing arts studio featuring the dance and music of Puerto Rico were first-place winners in the NC State University College of Management’s 2006 Entrepreneurship Education Initiative (EEI) $10K Business Plan Competition.

Two start-up companies -- one that helps busy families prepare nutritious, home-cooked meals and a biomedical venture that is developing a handheld diagnostic tool for health care professionals -- each have won $10,000 in a business plan competition at the University of California, Davis.