Embedded Files
Teams can take advantage of up to four coaching reviews of their application summary. Teams are not required to use the coaching and can submit their application summary without coaching up until the Final Submission of Complete Summary deadline for their region. Teams can also miss a coaching deadline but pick it back up at the next Part. This new format of incrementally building the summary over several months and the benefit of an experienced judge coach (see bio in Student Resources page on website) is the result of great feedback received from dozens of 2019 innovation contest students.
- Part (Task) 1: Problem/Solution Statements, and market information (1½ pages max plus cover page)
- What problem are you solving? Why is that such a problem?
- What is your solution? Why is it innovative? What is the true value proposition of your innovation? How does it improve life cycle? How is problem being addressed now?
- Market information- Who exactly would be your customers? How many of them are there in US? World? What is range of customer size by employee, revenue, market cap or other metric? How much money is being spent to solve this problem now per year? Is that number getting bigger or smaller?
- Cover page- include the title of innovation, team members, submission date and elevator pitch.
- If you have more than one idea, feel free to submit as many innovative problem/solution statements as you like this first step. Our Coach will provide feedback to help you figure out which idea to pursue.
- Part 2: Task 1 plus Before/After, and Competition (1½ pages for max total of 3 pages plus cover page). Update/improve previous submitted information taking into account coach’s feedback and add:
- Before and after- what will your customers be able to do because of your solution that they couldn’t do before? What costs, extra labor, time delays, etc. were they facing before that they will not have to face after? What is the financial difference between the before and after?
- Competitive information- How do the customers address the issue now and who do they turn to for help? Describe the differences between your solution and the current solutions or customer workarounds.
- Part 3: Task 2 plus Feasibility and Go to Market Strategy (1½ pages for max total of 4½ pages plus cover page) Update/improve previous submitted information taking into account coach’s feedback and add:
- Feasibility- have you tested this in the lab? In the field? With a partner? What were the results? Provide some support that this solution will actually technically work.
- Go to market strategy- who are the 10 most likely prospects and how are you going to reach them?
- Part 4: Task 3 plus Capitalization (½ page for max total of 5 pages plus cover page) Update/improve previous submitted information taking into account coach’s feedback and add:
- Capitalization- how much would it cost to get an MVP developed and tested for the appropriate period (3-6 months?) to determine if solution is effective.
- Step 5: Final Submission of Complete Summary (5 pages max plus cover page, body text font 11 pt or larger) and a short video (no more than 1 minute in length) Update/improve previous submitted information taking into account coach's feedback.
- The final submission is really the final version. Hopefully you have taken advantage of the staggered submissions allowing you to think about and build this submission over time incorporating feedback from great coaching.
- Applicants are asked to submit a short (60 second max) video that just describes the problem they are solving and how they are solving it. This is chance to speak directly to the judges. Cue cards or notes are fine, just don’t read word for word from a script.
- If you like, you can build a PowerPoint slide and display it next to you as you and refer to it for visuals or for effect. You may choose to make your video presentation in front of or next to the poster and similarly refer to it . Neither of these visual props are necessary but may help you feel more comfortable.
- Try to have a conversation with the camera. It sometimes helps to have someone stand behind the camera and actually talk to them.
- These videos are NOT scored or graded. For the regional winning teams, their short video will be played at the awards regional awards ceremony.
- Judges will evaluate this application for a portion of your final score. You will receive the judges scores and feedback 10-14 days prior to the regional contest. Incorporate this feedback into your poster for judging at the regional event.
Report abuse