Qualcomm is hoping to attract great startup ideas for a $250,000 QPrize plus a trip to Barcelona, Spain.

Nagraj Kashyap, head of Qualcomm Ventures, the VC arm of Qualcomm, the telecom technology giant, said:"We're holding four regional competitions for a $100,00 prize and then the grand prize of an additional $150,000. And these business ideas don't have to use Qualcomm technologies, we're hoping to boost the entries wireless sector."

The four regions are North America, Europe, India and China. The deadline for submissions of business plans/ideas is August 21. The regional competition will be held at the Plug and Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale.

Qualcomm is inviting submissions from clean and green tech, healthcare, digital content, mobile apps, and general tech.

While $100K might not be a whole lot of money for US or European startups, Mr Kashyap says that the money goes a lot further in India and China. "It's not just the money. It's also the exposure you get if you make it to the finals in November in San Diego. You'll get to meet a lot of people. Plus you get to go to the GSM conference in Barcelona, in February."

Mr Kashyap says that Qualcomm Ventures plans to invest about the same amount of money as last year but that there are fewer deals. "We're having to take the lead on some investments because the VC firms aren't making investments. Usually we let the VC firms take the lead."

Qualcomm is the world's largest fabless chip supplier. It makes money from a large portfolio of patents that cover nearly every aspect of wireless communications.

Here are the QPrize FAQs.