Three local entrepreneurs were named winners in the 2008 Rhode Island Business Plan Competition announced during the Business Expo 2008 at the Rhode Island Convention Center and will share $170,000 in prizes. They are:

•Entrepreneur Track: MissingPatient.com, led by Timothy Holmgren of Westerly. The start-up company has developed an integrated approach for making important information quickly available about a missing person, such as those suffering from Alzheimer’s, to medical professionals, police officers, and private citizens.

•Student Track: Siren Medical, founded by Mark Drew. The company is developing a low-cost technology that can help save severed digits and limbs at the site of an accident for transport to a surgical facility.

•High School Track: David Litwin, a junior at The Wheeler School in Providence, heads D-Liteful Gaming, a company that is creating an online video game that incorporates economics and business with sports.

The entrepreneur and student track winners each received prizes valued at $54,500. The high school track winner was awarded a $1,000 prize. The prizes, which included cash and in-kind services, were donated by companies and organizations principally from Rhode Island.

Finalists in the entrepreneur track were: Vitrimark, led by Arijit Bose of Providence, which uses a unique technology to detect prostate and breast cancer in their early stages; and Replicator, headed by Joseph Flaherty of Watertown, Mass., which uses custom manufacturing technology to create costume jewelry.

Finalists in the student track were: CHMR Solutions, from Brown University, headed by Colin Keogh, a company that removes heavy metals from Brownfield sites; and Digital Wingman, also a Brown University team, led by Jake Powers and Brian Rider, that integrates 3D, high-definition floor plans with e-commerce.

All finalists in the entrepreneur and student tracks received $15,000 in prizes, the first time the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition awarded prizes to finalists.

“We received more applications and a greater variety of plans than ever before in the five competitions we have held since 2001,” said competition co-chairman Garrett B. Hunter, president of the Business Development Company of Rhode Island. “The quality of the plans was extremely high, and the judges felt all the semifinalists had good business ideas that they should actively pursue.”

This year’s competition attracted 58 proposals from six states, including Texas, as well as plans from Russia, Sweden, and India. Business plans focused on a range of industries, including manufacturing, retail, the Internet, health care, software and biotech.

Plans were also received from Brown University, Bryant University, Johnson & Wales University, New England Institute of Technology, Rhode Island School of Design, Roger Williams University, Salve Regina University, Babson College and George Washington University.

To be eligible, applicants had to agree to establish or maintain operations in Rhode Island.