A leading Scottish entrepreneur has urged students to enter a competition aimed at creating the future stars of Scotland's digital economy.

Chris van der Kuyl, 32, president of Vis Entertainment, which created the blockbusting computer game State of Emergency , launched the 2002 Dare to be Digital competition for students in Scottish universities and art colleges.

Teams can develop an idea for a digital product over ten weeks in the summer, at the University of Abertay Dundee.

Mr van der Kuyl, recently appointed visiting professor in digital entertainment at Abertay, said: "So far as we know, this is a unique initiative in the world. The students get a salary and direct mentoring from some of the best brains in the business."

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The teams are helped by programming and digital mentors, and business experts. Matthew Bett, one of last year's winners, said: "Business training was one area we had no idea about at all, because we were all programmers. It was definitely invaluable."

Mr Bett's five-member team has set up a multimedia software development company, Inverse Cinematics, in Abertay's graduate business incubator, Embreonix.

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Details:

* A student team from Aberdeen and Dundee universities won top prize in the first round of the Scottish Institute for Enterprise nat-ional business plan competition.
Intelliflame Systems aims to develop an intelligent sensor capable of monitoring and tackling fires of different substances.

The runners-up were an Edinburgh University team that planned to develop a new type of ski, using innovative materials technology, and a Glasgow University team whose concept is a device to help elderly people and people with visual disabilities to find lost items.

A total of 21 teams have been selected to go on to the competition's second round, with the winners being awarded £10,000 to help them start a business.